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MUNICIPAL HISTORY 



TOAVN AND CITY OF BOSTON, 



TWO CENTUEIES 



SEPTEMBER 17, 1630, TO SEPTEMBER 17, 1830. 



BY 

J O SI AH QUINC Y 



BOSTON: 
CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 

1852. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by Josi.\h Qoincy, in the Clerk's 
office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
HOUGHTON AND HAYWOOD. 






PREFACE 



The municipal affairs of the inhabitants of Boston were 
conducted under the form of town government, established 
by the early settlers of New England, from 1630 to 1822, 
when, on their petition, they were incorporated into a city 
by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Through eight suc- 
ceeding years, three successive administrations presided 
over the new form of government thus established. The 
author of this history held the office of Mayor during 
almost six of these years, at a period when the principles, 
by which legislative and executive measures ought to be 
guided, were diligently sought and carefully applied, ac- 
cording to the powers conferred by the city charter. The 
people of Boston had surrendered, with reluctance, the 
management of their municipal concerns, which they had 
maintained in popular assemblies for nearly two centuries ; 
and the jealousy with which they watched the measures 
of the new authorities, rendered a frequent and full deve- 
lopment of motives and consequences expedient and im- 
portant. 

At the close of his administration, it therefore appeared 
to the author, that a municipal history of the town, and an 
accurate account of the transactions in the first years of 
the city government, would be useful and interesting to 



iv PREFACE. 

the public in future times, and was due to the wisdom, 
fidelity, and disinterested services of his associates. 

These views were intimated in an address to the Board 
of Aldermen, on taking final leave of the office of Mayor, 
on the thu"d of January, 1829 ; and on the sixth, on his 
petition, the succeeding City Council having granted liberty 
of access to the City Records, this History was commenced. 
The completion of it was unavoidably postponed by the 
acceptance of the Presidency of Harvard University, an 
appointment made and confirmed by the Corporation and 
Overseers of that Seminary, on the fifteenth and twenty- 
ninth of the same month, and by the official duties assumed 
and discharged until August, 1845. 

After the lapse of twenty years, at the urgency of friends 
who had a right to influence, the work was resumed ; and, 
being finished, is now, at the close of the author's eightieth 
year, offered to his fellow-citizens, with his best wishes for 
their long enjoyment of an efficient municipal government, 
and for the uninterrupted prosperity of the city of Boston. 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 

BosTOX, February 4, 1852. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1630-1783. 

PAGE 

Constitution of Towns — Settlement and Organization of Boston — General 
Proceedings — Instructions to Selectmen and the Watch — Establishment 
of an Almshouse — Of Schools — Erection of Faneuil Hall — Manifest- 
ations of the Spirit of Liberty by the Inhabitants of Boston — Attempt to 
change the Form of Town Government — Population under the Colonial 
Grovernment 1 

CHAPTER II. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1783-1821. 

State of the Public Schools — Measures in regard to them — Successive 
Attempts to change the Government of the Town — Plan of a City Go- 
vernment adopted ........... 20 

CHAPTER III. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1821-1822. 

The Almshouse removed from Beacon Street to Leverett Street — Over- 
seers of the Poor remonstrate on its Condition — Proceedings of the 
Legislature of Massachusetts on the Subject of Pauperism — Erection of 
a House of Industry authorized by the Inhabitants of Boston — Noble 
Conduct of Samuel Brown — His Character — House of Industry erect- 
ed — Act of Incorporation of the City obtained and accepted — John 
Phillips chosen Mayor 34 

CHAPTER IV. 

CITY GOVERNIMENT. 1822-1823. 

John Phillips, Mayor. 

Inauguration — Address of the Selectmen, on surrendering the Government 
and Muniments of the Town of Boston — Reply of the Mayor — Mea- 
sures adopted to carry into effect the Citv Charter — Donation of Mr. 

A* 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sears — Proceedings relative to the House of Industry — Result of the 
First Year's Administration of the City Government — Tribute to Mr. 
Phillips 42 

CHAPTER V. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Organization of the City Government — Mayor's Addi-ess — Lnportance of 
the Official Responsibihty of that Officer — DifficuUies relative to the 
Office of Surveyors of Highways — Embarrassments from the Board of 
Health — Duty of Cleansing the Streets devolved on the Mayor and 
Aldermen, and how executed — Board of Health discontinued, and their 
Duties transferred to other Officers 58 

CHAPTER VI. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuKsrCY, Mayor. 

Inconvenient State of Faneuil Hall Market — Difficulties attending its 
Extension — Measures taken for surmounting them — Invitation to the 
Proprietors of the Land in the Vicinity to become Associates in the 
Improvement — Not accepted by them — The Project approved by the 
Citizens in a General Meeting — Authority obtained from the Legis- 
lature — Purchase of the Estates commenced 74 

CHAPTER ^^I. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAii QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Proceedings relative to the House of Industry — Opposition of the Over- 
seers of the Poor to the Removal of the Inmates of the Almshouse — 
A House of Correction erected at South Boston — Attempts to Conciliate 
the Overseers of the Poor — Its Effects — Liberty to use the Cellars of a 
Church for Burial denied — Department of Police 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

^Measures for the Suppression of Idleness, Vice, and Crime — A House of 
Correction — Its Effects — Building provided for Juvenile Offenders — 
Its Results — Petition for General Meetings in Wards — Loans proposed 
for City Improvements — Theatrical Licenses — Ropewalk Lands — 
Islands in the Harbor — Common Sewers 102 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER IX. 
CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824-1825. 
JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

PAGK 

Proceedings of the City Council of the past Year Recapitulated — Import- 
ance of the Responsibility of the Mayor — Estates purchased for the 
Enlargement of Faneuil Hall Market — Plan of the New Market — 
North Block of Stores built and sold — First Plan enlarged — Southern 
Block of Stores built and sold — Corner Stone of Market House laid . 121 

CHAPTER X. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824-1825. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Proceedings relative to the House of Industry — Opposition of the Over- 
seers of the Poor to the Measures of the City Council — Sale of the 
Almshouse in Leverett Street — The Paupers transferred to the House 
of Industry — The question of applying to the Legislatiire for a Modifica- 
tion of the Powers claimed by the Overseers of the Poor, submitted to a 
General Meeting of the Citizens — Its Result — Death of Alderman 
Hooper — Claims of Political Parties for the use of Faneuil Hall — Diffi- 
culties relative to the Board of Health — Change in that Department — 
Visit and Rece^Jtiou of General Lafayette 138 

CHAPTER XI. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824-25. 

JosiAH QuixcY, Mayor. 

State of the Fire Department — Claims of the Engine Companies — The 
Result — They surrender their Engines and resign — Other Engine 
Companies formed — A new Organization of the Fire Department recom- 
mended — Measures taken to carry it into effect — Office of Auditor of 
Accounts established 153 



CHAPTER XII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1825. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

The Citizens accept the Report of their General Committee on the inex- 
pediency of modlfj-ing the powers of the Overseers of the Poor — Over- 
seers decline taking care of the Poor at the House of Industry — Their 



Tiii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Rights and Duties submitted to Legal Counsel — Their Report, and 
consequent Proceedings of the City Council — Measures to introduce a 
Supply of Fresh Water — Proceedings relative to Faneuil Hall Mar- 
ket — Census of the City — Time of Organizing the City Government 
changed 167 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1825. 

JosiAH QumcY, Mayor. 

An Act authorizing a New Organization of the Fire Department applied 
for and obtained from the State Legislature — Sanction of the Act by the 
Citizens — Measures pursued to carry it into effect — Sites for Engine 
Houses selected — Reservoirs constructed — Lafayette revisits the City 
— Measures adopted on the Occasion by the City Council . . .181 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1826. 

JosiAH QuiNCT, Mayor. 

Prosperity of the City — Measures for introducing Water — Views of the 
Mayor on the Subject — Proceedings of the City Council — Powers of 
the Mayor in the Suppression of Riots — Petitions for a General Contri- 
bution for Relief by Sufferers from Fire — The Result — Progress of 
Faneuil Hall Market — Final Settlement of the whole Improvement — 
Organization of the new Fire Department — Celebration of the Fourth 
of July, 1826 — Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — Tribute 
to their Memories . . . . .197 

CHAPTER XV. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1827. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

General Relations of the City — Views concerning the City- Debt — The 
Location of a City Hall — The Responsibility for the Correctness of the 
Voting Lists — General State of the Scliools — Proceedings of the City 
Council in relation to them — School Committee object to their Inter- 
ference, and claim Independence — Opening of the Hancock School — 
High School for Girls estabHshed as an Experiment — Its Result — The 
School discontinued, and the Privileges of Females in the Common 
Schools extended — The Relation of the Mayor to the School Com- 
mittee 210 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER XVI. 

CITY G0\1ERNMENT. 1828 
JosiAii QuiNCY, Mayor. 

PAGB 

General Relations of the City in respect of Debt — Health — Protection 
against Fire — Its Duty in respect of Education — Efiect on its Pros- 
perity by the Principle of Arbitrary Valuation ■without Relief — Prin- 
ciples of Proceeding relative to the Voting Lists — Indemnity of City 
Officers for Acts of Official Duty — Sale of Spirituous Liquors prohi- 
■ bited on the Common — Inexpediency of Selling the Flats to the East- 
ward of the New Market-House, and the Result of the Measures taken 
on that Subject 229 

CHAPTER XVII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. 

JosiAii QuiNCY, Mayor. 

The Annexation of South Boston to the Ancient City, and the Difficulties 
attending it — Project of Semi- Annual Sales of Domestic Manufactures 
in the City — The Hall over the New Market appropriated for the 
Object — Question concerning the EHgibihty of Members of the City 
Council to City Offices — State and Progress of the Fire Department — 
Resignation of the Chief Engineer — His gratuitous Services — Vote 
of Thanks to him by the City Council — Prosperous State of City Af- 
fairs — The Mayor dechnes being a Candidate for Reelection — Harrison 
Gray Otis chosen Mayor 246 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Address of the IMayor on taking final Leave of the Office — His Acknow- 
ledgments to the Members of the Board of Aldermen, Common Council, 
and his Fellow-Citizens — Measures and Results of the past Administra- 
tion : for Protection of the City against Fire ; and of the Islands against 
Stonns ; for the Health of the Inhabitants ; for Public Education ; in 
Favor of Public Morals ; for increasing the Financial Resoui-ces of the 
City and reducing its Debt — Principles on which his Conduct in Office 
had been guided — Tribute to his Successor 259- 

CHAPTER XIX. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1829. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Maijor. 

Circumstances recaUing the Mayor from Private Life — Tribute to his Pre- 
decessors — Views concerning the City Debt — On the Supply of Pure 



CONTENTS. 



Water — The Importance of Railroads — Political Relations of the State 
and Union — Flats to the Eastward of the New jMarket — Attempts tp 
authorize Inspectors to place Names on the Voting Lists — Tribute to 
the Directors of the House of Industry — Chief Engineer of the Fire 
Department appointed — Resignation of all the Assistant Engineei-s — 
Petitions to extend TMiarves to the Channel — Relief to Sufferers by 
Fire in Georgia — Petitions for a General JNIeeting of Citizens on Rail- 
roads, and for a Grant of Land for their Accommodation . . . 280 

CHAPTER XX. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor. 

Prosperous State of the City — Embarrassment of the INIanufacturing In- 
terests, and its Causes — Comjjletion of the City WTiarf — State of the 
City Debt — Sale of Public Lands — Condition of the Flats to the West 
of the Neck — State of the Court>Houses — Protection of our Outer 
Harbor — Centennial Celebration resolved upon — Grant of the City 
Hall for Sales of Domestic Manufactures rescinded — Sale of Spirituous 
Liquors on the Common prohibited — Old State House to be called 
" The City Hall " — Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Boston 298 

CHAPTER XXI. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor. 

Address of the Mayor to the INIembers of the City Council, on the Removal 
of the Municipal Government to the Old State House, on the Morning 
of the seventeenth of September, 1830 309 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor. 

Address to the Citizens of Boston, on the seventeenth of September, 1830, 
the Close of the Second Century from the first Settlement of the City. 
By Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard University . . . .318 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor. 

An Ode, pronounced before the Inhabitants of Boston, on the seventeenth 
of September, 1830, at the Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of 
the City. By Charles Sprague 358 



CONTENTS. xi 



APPENDIX. 

PAGK 

Mayor'slnaugural Addresses, 1822-1828 373 -40« 

Message of tlie INIayor to the City Council, recommending the Extension of 
the Plan of the Improvement of Faneuil Hall Market to Butler's Row, 
and explaining the Motives of the Coumiittee for this Recommendation . 412 

Proceedings on laying the Corner Stone of Faneuil Hall Market . .415 

Statements relative to the irresponsibility claimed by the Overseers of the 
Poor for public moneys • • • .418 

An Address, delivered at the unanimous Request of both Branches of the 
City Council on the Fourth of July, 1826, it being the Fiftieth Anniver- 
sary of American Independence, by Josiah Quincy, Mayor of the City . 421 

The Members of the City Government, from 1822 to 1830, inclusive • 434 



MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1630-1783, 

Constitution of Towns — Settlement and Organization of Boston — General Pro- 
ceedings — Instructions to Selectmen and the Watch — Establishment of an 
Almshouse — Of Schools — Erection of Faneuil Hall — Manifestations of the 
Spirit of Liberty by the Inhabitants of Boston — Attempt to change the Form 
of Town Government — Population under the Colonial Government. 

The settlements made in 1630 around the Bay of Massachu- 
setts, by John Winthrop and his associates, early received the 
name of "towns," under the sanction of the colonial legislature, 
denominated, in conformity with the language of the first char- 
ter, " The General Court." 

After declaring " that particular towns had many things 
which concerned only themselves, and the ordering their own 
affairs, and disposing of business in their own town," the General 
Court, in 1630, ordered that " the freemen of every town, or a 
major part of them, should have power to dispose of their own 
lands and woods, to grant lots, and choose their own particular 
officers, as constables, surveyors of highways and the fike, annu- 
ally, or otherwise, if need required ; also to make such laws and 
constitutions as concern the welfare of their town. Provided 
they are not of a criminal, but of a prudential nature, and that 
their penalties exceed not twenty shillings for one offence, and 
that they be not repugnant to the public laws and orders of the 
country." In case of the refusal of any inhabitant to obey the 
laws of the town, the appointed penalty was authorized to be 
levied by " distress." If any person behaved offensively in toivn 
meeting, those present had power to sentence him for the offence 
to pay any sum, not exceeding the above-prescribed penalty. To 
1 



2 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

every town was also gi'anted the power to choose yearly, or for 
less time, " a convenient number of fit men, to order the pruden- 
tial affairs of the town, according to instructions given them in 
writing, they doing nothing contrary to the laws and orders of 
the country ; and the number of selectmen to be not above nine." 
The local limits of each town, within which its jurisdiction ex- 
tended, were established, enlarged, or diminished by the General 
Court, who subsequently authorized new officers to be chosen 
and granted new powers to each town, as new wants arose, or as 
local interests or state policy suggested. 

Such was the first and simple outline of that constitution of 
towns, which, originating in the convenience and practical spirit 
of those early emigrants, and being thus gi'adually modified, by 
occurring exigencies and policy, formed that assemblage of re- 
publics, with qualified powers, which constitutes some of the 
peculiar characteristics of Massachusetts and the other New 
England States, and had an effective, indeed, a controlling in- 
fluence upon their principles and destinies. 

One of the earliest of these settlements was established on the 
peninsula formed at the mouth of Charles River, by its waters 
and those of the Bay of Massachusetts. From the Indian natives 
it received the name of "Shawmut; " from the inhabitants of 
Charlestown, that of " Trimountain ; " and from the General 
Court, by an order passed on the seventh of September, (old 
style,) 1630, that of " Boston." ^ In 1632, the same colonial 
legislature declared it to be "the fittest place for public meet- 
ings of any place in the Bay," and thenceforth it was, and ever 
since has continued the capital of Massachusetts. 

The peninsula of Shawmut, being only about four miles in 
circumference, did not offer sufficient accommodation for pastur- 
age and cultivation of the land. The General Court, therefore, 
during the four or five first years after the settlement, included 
within the boundaries of Boston the islands in the harbor, Muddy 
River, (now Brookline,) Winnisimet, (now Chelsea,) Mount 
Wollaston, and the land east of Neponset River, afterwards 
incorporated into a town by the name of Braintree, and now 
constituting the towns of Braintree, Randolph, and Quincy. 
The assigrmient of house lots within the peninsula, and the 
allotting farms to succeeding emigrants, formed the chief busi- 
ness of the town authorities for nearly half a century. 



TOWN GOVEHmiENT. 3 

Boston being the place of the residence of John Winthrop, the 
first Governor of IMassachusetts, and of some of the principal 
assistants, they took the lead in the early conduct of its affairs. 
The first order on the town records is dated 1634, March 7th day, 
1st month, and purports to be passed by John Winthrop and 
nine others, but they take not the name of " selectmen," or any 
other indicative of authority. The order related only to laying 
stones and logs near landing places, so as not to be seen at high 
water, without some beacon to give notice thereof, " under pain 
of paying recompense, by way of damage, for any vessel injured 
thereby." The persons passing this order, however, seem to have 
been under some apprehension lest their authority might be 
questioned, for the order adds, " it being only a declaration of the 
common law herein." 

The name of "selectmen" does not appear on the records of 
the town until November, 1643, and then only incidentally. 
The persons chosen to do the business of the town are often 
without any designation of their office. Sometimes they are 
called "the overseers of the town concerns;" at others, are desig- 
nated as persons " chosen for the occasions of the town," and for 
the first time on the town records, on the 29th of November, 1645, 
John Winthrop and nine others are formally stated to be cliosen 
"selectmen." The duties of the persons thus chosen, as ex- 
pressed in one of the votes of the inhabitants, were " to oversee 
and take order for all the allotments within us, and for all comers 
into us, and also for all other the occasions and business of this 
town." 

The allotments of land assigned within the peninsula were 
very limited in extent. Those out of it, and within the jurisdic- 
tion of the town, were large, and granted with gi-eat liberality. 
In the 9th of the 12th month, (February, 1635,) the rule esta- 
blished by the town for these allotments was, " two acres to plant 
on, and for every able youth, one acre within the Neck and Nod- 
dle's Island." As to those at Mount Wollaston and Muddy 
River, the allotters were authorized to " take a view and bound 
out what may be sufficient there" for the particular farms of 
the allottees, and four hundred acres were often given to a single 
individual. The year 1635, however, did not elapse before, in 
conformity with the settled policy of the emigrants at that period, 
the town " agreed that no further allotments should be granted 



4 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

unto any new-comer, but such as may be likely to be received 
members of the congregation." 

During the political ascendency of Henry Vane, the name of 
Winthrop does not appear on the town records. As governor 
of the colony, in 1636, Vane probably assumed the superintend- 
ence of the concerns of the town. But in November, 1639, the 
name of John Winthrop, Governor, appears, with the names of 
nine others, chosen, as formerly, for the town's affairs ; and he 
held this relation until 1648, the year before his death. 

At this early period, the limits between the powers of the 
colonial legislature and those of the town seem not to have been 
well defined or carefully observed. Besides the local authority 
incident to municipal jurisdiction, such as " taking care of the 
common fences," " regulating the going at large of cattle, goats, 
and swine;" "the cutting wood upon the Neck;" and reserv- 
ing that " near Roxbury for the poor," — the town, in 1635, un- 
dertook to exercise a more extensive power, and one somewhat 
dubious, both in point of principle and expediency. Thus, it 
then appointed a committee " to set prices upon all cattle, com- 
modities, victuals, and laborers' and workmen's wages, and that 
no other prices or rates be given or taken." They also voted 
that " none of the members of this congregation, or inhabit- 
ants among us, shall sue one another at the law, before that 
Mr. Henry Vane, and the two elders, Mr. Thomas Ohver and 
Thomas Leverett, have had the hearing and deciding of the cause, 
if they can." In the same year it was voted, " that whosoever, 
at any public meeting, shall fall into private conference, to the 
hindering of public business, shall forfeit for every such offence 
twelve pence, to be paid into the constable's hands for public 
use." In this year the town first assumed the care of the schools, 
by voting that " our brother Philemon Pormont be entreated to 
become schoolmaster, for the teaching of the children among 
us." 

The General Court having rejected the persons they had 
chosen as their deputies to that body, the spirit of the inhabit- 
ants was manifested by the following proceedings : — 

" The 9tli of ye 3^1 Mo, 1637. At a general meeting, upon pri- 
vate or particular warning, from house to house, and by reason 
of the Court's refusal of the former choice, Mr. Henry Vane, Esq., 
Mr. William Coddington, Mr. Atherton Hough, are noiv again 



TOWN GOVEEmiENT. 5 

chosen deputies, or committees, for the service of the present 
General Court, and that upon warrant to us from the Court for 
a new choice." Notwithstanding the obnoxiousness, at that 
time, of these deputies to the predominating party in the Court, 
they were in consequence admitted to their seats. 

The records of the town, though voluminous, contain little of 
permanent importance or interest. A few of them, indicative of 
the opinions and views of the inhabitants in those early times, 
will be here recapitulated : — 

1638. Allotments were granted on condition of " inoffensive 
carriage." 

1652. No strangers were permitted to live in the town, with- 
out giving bonds to save the town harmless from all damage and 
charge for entertaining them. It was ordered, that persons whose 
houses were pulled down by the authorities, in case of fire, should 
" not be entitled to damages therefor." 

1653. Leave was given to a citizen " to sink a twelve-feet 
cistern, at the pump which stands in the highway, to hold water 
to be helpful against fire, he making it safe from danger of 
children." Ladders were placed at the meeting-houses, with 
penalty against their use, except in case of fire. At the same 
place were also hung sti'ong crooks and chains, poles and ropes, 
for the same purpose. Every householder was required to have 
a ladder which should reach to the roof of his house. 

1655. " For galloping through the streets, except upon days of 
military exercise, or any extraordinary case require," a fine of 
two shillings was imposed. Football was prohibited from being 
played in the sti-eets. Butchers were ordered to cast all their 
offal into the mill creek, and not elsewhere ; and all rubbish to 
be removed before every house. 

1657. None but admitted inhabitants could keep shop or set 
up a manufacture within the town, except those who were 
twenty-one years of age, and had served seven years' apprentice- 
ship, under penalty of ten shillings a month. An inhabitant was 
allowed " to set up a pump in the streets, and might deny any 
neighbor its use who did not contribute to the expense." 

Licences were required for drawing beer, wine, brandy, strong 
water, cider ; for keeping a public house, and for selling coffee 
and chocolate. 

1658. The order passed in 1652 was revoked, and owners of 



6 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

houses pulled down by the authorities in case of fre, were en- 
titled to damages. No person was allowed to carry fire from one 
house to another, except in some safe vessel secure from wind. 
If a chimney took fire and flamed out, the owner was fined ten 
shillings. Persons were appointed to inspect the chimneys of 
the town, and cause defects in them to be remedied so as to be 
safe against fire. 

1659. Inhabitants were fined " for entertaining foreigners," and 
ordered to discharge them from their houses. If they received 
" inmates, servants, or journeymen, coming for help in physic or 
surgery, without leave of the selectmen, and without giving 
bonds to save the town harmless, their fine was twenty shillings 
a week." 

1662. Persons were appointed to prevent disorders by youth 
on the Lord's day ; particularly in the meeting-house, in time of 
God's solemn worship ; with authority to correct those who were 
disorderly with a small wand, and in case of contempt, to take 
their names and bring them before the magistrates. 

1670. " There having been found a great want of water in 
case of fire, every inhabitant was ordered to have a hogshead 
well filled with water near his door, with the head open, under a 
penalty of five shillings." 

1672. Under the authority of colonial laws, the selectmen 
ordered parents to put their children out to service, or to indent 
them out ; and if they did not, the authority had power to take 
them from their parents for that purpose. 

1678. Every family was ordered to be provided with " fire- 
buckets, swabs, and scoops, according to their state." In the 
same year an engine was imported from England, and persons 
appointed to take charge of it in case of fire. 

1683. Those who had the care of the water engine, (now called 
fire engines,) were exempted from " ti'ain bands." 

1702. Two water engines were ordered to be imported from 
England. 

The inhabitants in general town meeting were accustomed, 
annually or semi-annually, to vote instructions to their select- 
men, presenting the objects of attention, and their duties con- 
cerning them. Those issued in 1657 were full, and the follow- 
ing abstract will give an idea of their general tenor, and throw 
lififht on the character of the times : — 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 7 

" Relying on your wisdom and care in seeking the good of the town, we 
recommend, that you cause to he executed all the orders of the town wliich you 
have on the records, according to the power given you by law, as found in the 
printed laws, under the titles of Townships, Ecclesiastics, Freemen, Highways, 
Small Causes, Indians, Corn Fields, Children, Masters, Servants, Pipe Staves, 
Stones, Weights and Measures, and any other orders in force ; and where you 
find any defect, to issue thereon good orders, to be approved by the town and 
the General Court. Subjects most necessary to be understood are, 1. About 
entertaining new inhabitants. 2. That none transplant themselves from the 
country to inhabit here without giving notice ; concerning whom you may in- 
quire their calling and employment, and whether they are about to live under 
other men's roofs as inmates, and deal with them according to law. If they are 
poor and unpotent, deal with them as dii-ected, under the title of Poor. If they 
buy houses and land, have a vigilant eye that they live not idly, but be diligently 
employed in some lawful calling. If, by reason of sickness, they cannot subsist 
their children, you are to take their children from them, and put them to 
apprenticeship. If any be debauched and live idly, you must provide a house 
of correction for them, at the charge of the town and the county. We commit 
unto you the disposal of the waste lands belonging to the town, for the benefit of 
the town, giving account from time to time. 

" We require you to make some effectual order to prevent harm from swine. 
As to the law relative to particidar highways, to each man's lot, if the General 
Court's order do not reach it, you must remind our deputies to procure some 
addition. You are to take constant precaution as to buildings, that they encroach 
not on the streets or town's lands. You are to appoint meet persons to keep the 
streets and flats near wharves and places of land clear of stones and other 
encumbrances. You must see that some fife be put into the laws about casks, and 
that they be of due gauge to prevent fraud, and that deceitful packing of beef 
and pork be duly punished ; that sworn men be appointed for measuring grain, 
cording wood and boards. We think it meet a jury should be chosen on weights 
and measures, to observe defects in chimneys, and in houses in danger of falling, 
and to present the same to the county courts ; that orders be passed against 
regrators and forestallers, and our deputies get them confirmed by the General 
Court. 

4 " That a meeting be held by you, at least monthly, seriously to consider these 
tilings, for the good of the town, the glory of God, and establishing truth and 
love among us. 

" That every half year a town meeting be called, the orders passed submitted 
for its approbation ; the accounts may be credited, and particularly of what has 
been spent for buckets, hooks and ladders, and for powder, and whether ladders 
have been provided for each house, according to law ; also as to what has been 
spent as to the great guns and ammunition of the town, that provision may be 
made for them. 

" These orders, with occasional variation, were apparently renewed every 
year in town meeting, until the year 1694." 

The orders to the town watch also characterize the state of 
the times. 



8 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

" Tlie town watch to be set at nine and dismissed at five. It shall not be 
trusted to youth, but one half consist of householders ; none to be employed of 
notorious evil life ; nor those who would watch two nights together, not having 
sufficient sleep between ; the number to be eight. The following charge to be 
given unto the watch every night : — 

"1. To walk two by two together; a youth to be joined with an older and 
more sober person. 

" 2. If after ten o'clock they see lights, to inquire if there be warrantable 
cause ; and if they hear any noise or disorder, wisely to demand the reason ; if 
they are dancing and singing vainly, to admonish them to cease ; if they do not 
discontinue after moderate achnonltion, then the constable to take their names 
and acquaint the authorities therewith. 

" 3. To watch the water side and about the shore, and prudently take account 
of such as go out or come in, not hindering lawful business, but preventing 
unla^vful practice and disorders. 

" 4. To look at the guns and fortifications. 

" 5. If they find young men and maidens, not of known fidelity, walking after 
ten o'clock, modestly to demand the cause ; and if they appear ill-minded, to 
watch them narrowly, command them to go to their lodgings, and if they refuse, 
then to secure them till morning. 

" 6. That the watch be exemplary themselves, using no corrupt language, and 
so conduct themselves, that any persons of quahty who are abroad late may 
acknowledge that the watch does not neglect due examination nor misconduct." 

In 1660, the first steps towards erecting an almshouse were 
taken, by authorizing the selectmen to use a piece of ground for 
that purpose. In 1662, the design was carried into eftect, in 
consequence of the encouragement given by sundry legacies and 
subscriptions. The building thus erected having been burnt 
down, a vote was passed by the town, in 1682, for rebuilding it. 
In this vote the object of the institution is specified to be " for 
the relief of the poor, the aged, and those incapacitated for labor; 
of many persons who would work, but have not wherewithal to 
employ themselves ; of many more persons and families, who 
spend their times in jolliness and tipling, and who suff'er their 
children shamefully to spend their time in the sti-eets, to assist, 
employ, and correct whom the proposed institution w^as pro- 
vided." 

It appears, however, by the records, that the original design of 
the house, for the accommodation of the respectable poor, was 
in a gi-eat measure defeated from the predominating character 
of its inmates ; and in 1712, an attempt was made by the town 
"to restore the almshouse to its primitive and pious design, even 
for the relief of the necessitous, that they might lead a quiet, 



TO^VN GOVERNMENT. 9 

peaceable, and godly life there, where it is now made a bridewell 
and honse of correction, which obstructs many honest poor people 
going there for the designed relief and support." As a remedy, 
the town proposed the building a house of correction, and a 
committee was raised for that purpose. That committee reported 
that " the poor honest people, who were sent as objects of charity, 
should be kept separate : and that the justices of the peace of 
the county should be petitioned to erect a house of correction, 
as the law dh-ects." Nothing farther was done upon the subject 
until the year 1720, when a vote was passed in town meeting 
for the erection of a workhouse, independent of an almshouse. 
This design was not, however, carried into effect until 1735, 
when measures were adopted for the enlargement and erecting 
new buildings, in connection with the preexisting almshouse, in 
virtue of the province law, passed in that year, on the special 
representation and petition of the town to that effect. The 
land now included, between Park and Beacon Streets, and the 
west line of the burying ground to the north line of the land 
now occupied by Park Street Church, was at that time the site 
appropriated for this establishment. The expenses incident to 
the erection of the buildings were originally defrayed from the 
funds of the town, aided by subscriptions of private individuals. 
It early received the name of the Boston Almshouse, probably 
to render a resort to it less obnoxious to the more respectable 
class of poor. But this appellation had no sanction in the pro- 
vince law authorizing its erection. " Workhouses for the idle 
and the indigent," " houses of correction for rogues and vaga- 
bonds," are the only designations given by that law, to institu- 
tions for either of those objects. The defects and inconveniences 
of the Boston Almshouse, which the comparative poverty of the 
times, and the embarrassments consequent on the revolutionary 
war, prevented from being remedied until after its close, will be 
noticed hereafter in this work. 

The obedience of the town to the province law, which required 
that every town having fifty householders should be provided 
with a schoolmaster to teach children and youth to read and 
write, and having one hundred families, with a grammar school, 
with some discreet person well instructed in the tongues to keep 
such school, seems, from the earliest times, to have been constant 
and regular. Their proceedings are not very distinctly traced in 



10 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the town records. In 1662, the rent of Deer Island was appro- 
priated for the use of free schools. And, in 1679, two free schools 
were established " to teach children to write and to cipher," 
accompanied with a recommendation to " those who sent their 
children to school and were able, to pay something for the 
encouragement of the master." It was not until 1709, that the 
town, on the report of a committee, voted " annually to appoint 
a certain number of gentlemen of liberal education, together with 
some of the reverend ministers of the town, to be inspectors of 
the schools, and, under that name and title, to visit the schools 
when, and as often as they think fit, to inform themselves of the 
methods used in teaching of the schools, and to inquire of their 
proficiency, and to be present at the performance of some of their 
exercises, the master being before notified of their coming, and 
with him to consult and advise of further methods for the 
advancement of learning and the good government of the school; 
and, at their visitation, one of the ministers by turns to pray with 
the scholars, and entertain them with some instructions of piety 
specially adapted to their age and education." By the same 
vote, " the inspectors were authorized, with the master, to intro- 
duce an usher upon such salary as the town shall agree to grant 
for his services." Five inspectors of the schools were accord- 
ingly appointed, and the system was persevered in for several 
years ; afterwards it was discontinuetl ; and the practice pre- 
vailed for the selectmen annually to visit the schools, accompa- 
nied by as many gentlemen as they chose to invite, which were 
often not less than fifteen or twenty. This practice continued 
until after the American Revolution and the treaty of peace sub- 
sequent. The proceedings of the town in relation to these insti- 
tutions will be related hereafter in connection with those of the 
city.i 

For more than a century after the settlement of the town, it 
was destitute of an established public market. Provisions were 
brought in carts to the doors of the inhabitants, and an opinion 
generally prevailed that the tendency of a local market was to 

1 In 1739, the whole number in all the town schools was 593 
1741, " " » " " 474 

1743, " " " " " 585 

1754, « « « " " 848 

1763, " " « " " 832 

1773, " « «' " " 719 



TOWN GOVERmiENT. 11 

encourage forestalling and raise the price of provisions. In 1733, 
the question of establishing a public market was first decided in 
the afRrmative ; ayes 366, nays 339. But at an adjourned meet- 
ing, a few days after, the former vote was rescinded, and the 
question decided in the negative ; 390 ayes, 415 nays. 

In 1734, by way of compromise, three markets were esta- 
blished by vote of the inhabitants, — a south, centre, and north. 

In April, 1737, the town voted that the south and north mar- 
ket should be appropriated to some other use ; and to what use 
they should be put was referred to the selectmen. Before their 
decision was known, the centre market, near the town dock, was 
pulled down by a mob, and the selectmen reported that the south 
market should be leased for shops, and that the north market 
should be removed. 

This report occasioned warm debates, and one of the inhabit- 
ants was reprimanded by the town, and ordered to be silent, for 
language implying that the selectmen had made their report in 
agreement with the mob. Their report was accepted, and the 
subject was not again revived until 1740, when Peter Faneuil 
offered, " on his own proper cost, to build a noble and complete 
sti-ucture to be improved for a market, for the sole use and bene- 
fit of the town, provided the town would accept the same, and 
make proper regulations," a meeting being called " to know the 
minds of the inhabitants, whether they would accept the same, 
on condition that the market people should be at liberty to carry 
their marketing vjheresoever they pleased about town.'^ Notwith- 
standing this condition, and although a vote was passed thanking 
Mr. Faneuil for his generous offer, the question of accepting it 
was carried only by a majority of seven; 367 ayes and 360 
nays. 

In 1742, the market house was erected by Mr. Faneuil on the 
town's land, near the dock. The edifice w^as of brick, two sto- 
ries in height, and one hundred feet in length by forty in breadth. 
"A noble structure," say the records, " far exceeding his first pro- 
posal, inasmuch as it contains not only a large and sufTicient 
accommodation for a market-place, but has also superadded a 
spacious and most beautiful town-hall over it, and several other 
convenient rooms." Votes were immediately passed by the town, 
appointing the selectmen and the representatives, and twelve 
others of the most distinguished inhabitants, a committee to 



12 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

wait upon Mr. Faneuil, and "in the name of the town to render 
him their most hearty thanks for so bountiful a gift, with their 
prayers that this and other expressions of his bounty and charity 
may be abundantly recompensed by the Divine blessing. It was 
also voted that, " in testimony of the town's gratitude, and to 
perpetuate his memory, the hall over the market-place should be 
called Faneuil Hall, and that a picture of him, at full length, be 
drawn, and placed in said hall, at the expense of the town." 

Mr. Faneuil died on the third of March, 1743, and, on the 
fourteenth, "being the first meeting in 5j3.neuil Hall after his 
death,-' at the request of the selectmen, "John Lovell, master of 
the South Grammar School, delivered, in presence of the town, 
an oration on his death ; the moderator's seat being hung in 
mourning cloth on the occasion." This oration was transcribed 
at length on the town's records, and celebrates with great pathos 
and power " the largeness of his heart, the unbounded nature of 
his private charities," and his " public spirit and munificence." ^ 
Afterwards the arms of his family were placed in Faneuil Hall 
by vote of the town. These proceedings did not extinguish the 
spirit of opposition to a market-house. 

In 1746, a number of the inhabitants petitioned " that Faneuil 
Hall should be shut up, and the building appropriated to some 
other purpose." Although the attempt was not at this time 
successful, it was renewed the next year, (1747,) and the market 
shut up until September following, and then till March, 1748, 
when it was again opened, at first for three days, and afterwards 
for every day in the week. In 1752, the contest was again 
renewed, and the market was shut up until the farther order of 
the town. In August of that year, the question of opening the 
market was again raised, and, after violent debates, passed in 
the negative ; only one hundred and two votes being in the 
alRrmative, and one hundred and twenty-nine in the negative. 
In JMarch, 1753, however, a vote for opening it was obtained, 
and the stalls were authorized to be leased ; in which result the 
inhabitants finally acquiesced. 

In February, 1761, Faneuil Hall was destroyed by fire, the 

' Mr. Fanenil's mansion bouse was situated in Tremont Street, in the midst of 
extensive gardens, opposite the Chapel Burial Ground. His family lleil from 
France with the Huguenots, in 1G8C. The grasshopper, on the vane of Faneuil 
Hall, was the crest of their arms. 



TOWN GOVERXIMENT. 13 

walls only being left standing. The town resolved, in March 
following, that the edifice should be rebuilt, and that the lower 
part should " not be improved as a market until the farther order 
of the town." To defray the expense, the General Court granted 
a lottery. The first meeting in the hall, after it was repaired, 
was on the fourteenth of March, 1763. The original dimensions 
of the building, as erected by Mr, Faneuil, were not enlarged 
until the year 1805, when it was extended in breadth to eighty 
feet,#and a third story was added to its height. 

The spirit of liberty and jealousy of town and colonial rights 
breathe through the records of Boston from the earliest period of 
the settlement. By the early laws of the colony, every town 
having ten freemen might send one deputy to the General Court. 
Every town having tiventij freemen might send two ; but no town 
more than two. The town of Boston, as its population increased, 
became sensible of the inequality of their influence in the colo- 
nial legislature, compared with their numbers. " We have four 
churches," say the records ; " our members are twenty times 
twenty ; the number of our representatives should be proportion- 
ate." No relief was, however, granted in this respect, until after 
the charter of William and Mary, in 1692, by which the legisla- 
ture of the province was allowed to fix the number of deputies 
each town might send ; and Boston was immediately allowed 
four representatives. 

The practice of instructing the representatives of the town in 
the General Court was early adopted, and occasionally, and often 
annually, continued through every period of colonial history. In 
these instructions, not only objects of temporary and local inte- 
rest were pressed upon the attention of their representatives, by 
the town, but the views and feelings of the inhabitants of a gene- 
ral nature were indicated, and their sentiments concerning muni- 
cipal and colonial rights unequivocally expressed. Thus, in 
1751, they were instructed to obtain the passage of laws re- 
gulating " the accepting and entertaining new inhabitants ; " 
against persons " transplanting themselves from one place to 
another, without notice to the selectmen ; " and for " inquiring 
concerning the calling and employment of those who present 
themselves as inhabitants ; " and, subsequently, in almost every 
successive year, the subjects most interesting at the period, such 
as measures for " preventing the poor from being chargeable to 
2 



14 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the town," and " providing workhouses for the idle and de- 
bauched," were ui-ged upon the notice of their representatives. 
The vigilance of the inhabitants in regard to their charter rights 
and privileges, never failed to be shown, on these occasions, by 
their votes ; thus, in 1G77, when the claims of Mason and Gorges 
struck at the powers of the colonial government, " it is a time," 
say the inhabitants to their representatives, " to unite, and for 
peace and amity to be attended to," and they were warned, " in 
matters of judicature, not to assume any arbitrary power," and 
" to do nothing which should, in the least measure infringe our 
liberties, civil or ecclesiastical, granted us by our charter." 

After the commencement of the eighteenth century, and in the 
incipient stages of those discontents, which ultimately resulted 
in the American Revolution, the votes of the inhabitants of the 
metropolis exhibited a spirit, which, in fact, constituted a lead- 
ing influence in the policy of the colony. Thus, in 1721, their 
representatives were instructed " to maintain our just rights and 
privileges ; to pass laws encouraging ti-ade, husbandry, and man- 
ufactures ; to vindicate the town against the aspersions which 
had been made against it of being inclined to mobs and 
tumults ; in all elections to have regard to the preservation of 
the just and laudable usages and customs of reserving the allow- 
ances, gratuities, &c., until the acts and elections be fully com- 
pleted." In 1723, the town addressed the king, repelling the 
charge " of being under no magistracy and of being of a muti- 
nous disposition," which had been brought against it by Governor 
Shute. 

In 1728, the town voted exti-a pay to their representatives for 
unusual hardships they had sustained, " for their steadfast adhe- 
rence to the rights and privileges of the people." In the same 
year, the question was taken in town meeting, whether "the 
governor, (Burnett,) shall have a salary settled upon him for the 
time being, and the vote was unanimously in the negative ; and 
the same was the result on the question whether " a salary might 
be settled upon him for a limited time." In the same spirit the 
town instructed their representatives, in 1729, "to pay due 
respect to the governor, but to use your utmost endeavors that 
the house of representatives may not, by any means, be prevailed 
upon, or brought into the fixing, a certain salary for any certain 
time to the governor. But that they improve their usual freedom, 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 15 

in granting their money from time to time, as they shall jndge 
the province to be able, and in such a manner as they shall think 
most for the benefit and advantage thereof; and if your pay 
should be diverted, you may depend upon all the justice imagin- 
able from this town whom you represent." 

The same direct and jealous spirit, manifested in the votes of 
the town in successive causes of popular discontent, from this 
period to the declaration of independence, shows the leading influ- 
ence of the town of Boston on all the measures which were the 
precursors of that event. But as these proceedings belong to the 
general history of Massachusetts, only some of the chief occasions 
seized upon to excite an interest and union in the principles of 
civil liberty will be enumerated. Thus, in 1732, resistance " to 
granting a certain salary to the governor," and " to compliance 
with his majesty's instructions, relative to supplying the trea- 
sury," was enjoined by the town on its representatives. In 
almost every subsequent year, until 1754, a similar spirit is evi- 
denced in the votes of the town, accompanied sometimes, as in 
1736 and the years ensuing, with complaints of the disproportion 
of taxation, misapplication of public moneys, against the excise 
upon spirits ; and, in 1715, their representatives were instructed 
"to take care that excisemen and their assistants should be 
excluded from the house of representatives;" and, in 1754, to 
obtain " a law, whereby the seats of such gentlemen as shall 
accept posts of profit from the crown or the governor, shall be 
vacated agreeably to an act of the British Parliament, until their 
constituents may have an opportunity of reelecting them, if they 
please." When the policy of the British government, to collect 
a revenue from the colonies, was manifested by the stamp act 
and its accompanying measures, the spirit of the town was evi- 
denced by votes of the most decided character, expressed in 
instructions to their representatives, and in petitions and remon- 
strances to the king and the people of Great Britain. 

In 1767, the town voted funds to procure the pictures of Colo- 
nel Barre and General Conway, and which, when received, they 
ordered to be hung in Faneuil Hall, as indications of their grati- 
tude for their opposition to the projects of the ministry. From 
that period to the declaration of independence, the unanimity of 
the inhabitants, and the principles by which they were actuated, 
are inseparably identified with the chief causes and characters of 



16 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the American Revolution, and are among the most prominent 
and effective influences of that momentous crisis. 

During the seventeenth century, no indication of dissatisfaction 
with the form of town government is apparent on the records. 
As early as 1667, among the instructions given by the town to 
its representatives, there was inserted the endeavor to obtain a 
law " making the town a corporation, or making it a county by 
i self." But this desire had probably no connection with any 
discontent at that self-government which a town organization 
secured to its inhabitants ; but exclusively with that of getting 
rid of the Court of Sessions, whose authority it was thought ' 
might more properly be vested in the selectmen, and give more 
efficiency and uniformity to the proceedings of the town. In 
that court was invested the power to establish a house of cor- 
rection, which, in utter neglect of the injunctions of the colonial 
law, they had omitted to erect, choosing, from motives of eco- 
nomy, to use the common jail for that purpose; an omission of 
which the town had reason, and did not fail occasionally, to 
complain. The first proposal of change in the form of town 
government appears to have originated with the selectmen them- 
selves, who, in 170S, offered to the inhabitants, at a meeting 
called for that purpose, the following proposition for their con- 
sideration, namely : — 

" That the orders and by-laws of this town ah-eady made, for the directing, 
ordering, and managing of the prudential affairs thereof, have not answered the 
ends for which they were made ; and the principal cause thereof is a general 
defect or neglect in the execution, without Avhich the best laws will signify 
little ; and one great reason Avhy they are no better executed, is the want of a 
proper head, or town officer or oiHcers, empowered for that purpose, the law 
having put the execution of town orders into the hands of the justices only, who 
are not town, but county officers, and it cannot be expected that they should 
take the trouble and care, or make it so much their business, as a town officer or 
officers, particularly appointed or chosen thereunto, must needs do. And, in- 
deed, for any body or society of men, as a town is, to be vested with power to 
make rules and by-laws for their own good regulation, and not to have power 
to choose and appoint the head oflicer or officers, who shall have power to exe- 
cute their own orders and by-laws, seems incongruous, and good oi-der is not 
to be expected while it remains so ; for as a town grows more populous, it will 
stand in need of more strict regulation. The said selectmen, therefore, pro- 
pose that tills town do now choose a committee of a considerable number of 
the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town to draw up a scheme or 
draft a charter of incorporation for encouragement and better government of 
this town, in the best manner they shall think suitable, and of the best and 



TOWN GOVERNIVIENT. 17 

most suitable means foi' the obtaining thereof, and to present the said scheme 
or di-aft to the town, at their annual meeting in March next." 

A vote to that effect was accordingly passed. Thirty-one 
inhabitants of chief influence were elected to constitute the 
committee. On the fourth of March, 1708 - 9, they reported the 
required draft or scheme. But the town not only refused to 
accept it, but also refused to refer the subject to any future 
meeting ; at the same time passing votes of thanks to the com- 
mittee for their labors. In May, 1744, the subject was again 
revived, in a form, as was probably supposed, less exceptionable. 
" The town," say the records, " having grown exceedingly popu- 
lous, a proposition was made to apply to the General Court, 
that the selectmen, for the time being, might have power, with 
the consent of the Court of Sessions, to make by-laws, with a 
penalty not exceeding forty shillings; and that they might be 
constituted a court of record, to try and determine all oftences 
against the by-laws, with an appeal from their judgment to the 
Court of Sessions." The proposition, however, after a long 
debate, received a decided negative from the inhabitants, and no 
similar attempt was made until after the peace of 1783. The 
few municipal relations, during this period of general and per- 
manent interest and importance, will be found hereafter stated 
in this history, in connection with some of the principal institu- 
tions of the town and city. 

The receipts and expenditures of the town, during its colonial 
period are obscurely traced on its records, and the glimpses they 
give of its wants and resources excite neither interest nor curi- 
osity. The ratio of the increase of its population cannot at this 
day be ascertained. It was slow and gradual. During the 
seventeenth century, it never exceeded seven thousand. In 
1730, at the close of the first century from its settlement, its 
population was only fifteen thousand ; and, although in the 
middle of the eighteenth century its numbers rose to eighteen 
thousand, yet the effects of wars with France, Spain, and the 
Indians, and that of the American Revolution, reduced that 
amount, at the peace of 1783, to twelve thousand, according to 
the most exact estimates. The wants of the community were 
during this period of the first necessity, and its resources of 
the most limited and attainable kind. The government being 
popular, and in effect democratic, the study of those who ma- 
2* B 



18 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

naged its concerns was chiefly to avoid debt and taxation ; and 
when exigencies requiring an enlargement of means occurred, 
even where the objects were both general and permanent, a re- 
sort was had to the liberality of the rich, to avoid the recurrence 
to a tax, which might excite the discontent of the less prosper- 
ous. Thus, the establishment of an almshouse, a workhouse, 
and even the provision for the absolute wants of the inmates of 
those institutions, were occasionally provided for by subscrip- 
tions, which were regarded and responded to as approved means 
in all such exigencies. 

During the revolutionary war, the exertions of the inhabitants 
of the town were directed to providing for the urgent wants of 
the period. 

In 1776, the town was occupied in measures encouraging the 
declaration of independence, and in pledging unanimously their 
lives and fortunes for its support; in forming committees of 
correspondence and of safety; offering bounties for volunteers 
for the army, and providing arms and ammunition for the in- 
habitants. 

In 1777, the town negatived the proposition, to invest in the 
General Court the power of forming a constitution for the com- 
monwealth ; took measures to fortify the harbor ; remonstrated 
against the return of the Tories ; borrowed money for the town, 
and raised subscriptions for the poor, and recommended to the 
churches to make collections for the families of the non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates of the army. 

In 1778, the articles of confederation were discussed and ap- 
proved ; monopolists and forestallers denounced ; the inhabitants 
were desired, in consideration of the necessities of the time, not 
to have more than tivo dishes of meat on their tables; and com- 
mittees were raised to provide shirts, stockings, and shoes for 
the army. 

In 1779, measures were taken to relieve the town from the 
great scarcity of provisions and necessaries of life ; to boiTow 
money ; to raise contributions for the poor ; to form a conven- 
tion ; to frame a new constitution for the state ; for protection 
against invasion ; for regulating the prices of goods and pro- 
visions, and prosecuting those who violated the rules on this 
subject. 

In 1780, the new constitution proposed for the state was con- 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 19 

sidered by sections in town meeting ; many days were occupied 
in the discussion, several amendments proposed, and the consti- 
tution partially accepted ; measures were taken to enlist men for 
the army, and to raise conti'ibntions for the poor. 

In 1781, heavy assessments were voted by the inhabitants for 
procuring men, and beef and clothing for the army, and for con- 
tributions for the support of the poor in the almshouse. Mea- 
sures were also taken on the subject of the depreciation of paper 
money ; and the subject of the fisheries was made a topic of 
earnest representation to the General Court. On occasion of a 
visit to the town by the ]Marc[uis Lafayette, he was formally 
addressed by the inhabitants, with expressions of " their cordial 
esteem and affection;" to which Lafayette responded, in terms 
manifesting his " lively sense of attachment and gratitude to the 
inhabitants." 

In 1782, measures were taken, on the memorial of the over- 
seers of the poor, who represented the inmates in the almshouse 
to be in want of the necessaries of life, and the master of it to 
be greatly in debt for his advances for their relief. Committees 
were raised on the subject of " the alarming combination of the 
bakers;" against " illicit trade;" and "the foolish predilection for 
British manufactures;" and for the purpose of forming associ- 
ations to prevent smuggling; and for the memorializing the 
General Court on the unconstitutionality of the Lord's Day Act. 

These measures, with others too numerous to be recapitu- 
lated, accompanied with reports, memorials, and instructions to 
representatives, which fill the town records, so engi'ossed the 
thoughts of the inhabitants with topics of general interest and 
vital importance, as to supersede all recurrence to subjects of a 
municipal character, until the peace of 1783. 



CHAPTER II. 

TOWN GOVERmiENT. 1783-1821. 

State of tlie Public Schools — Measures in. regard to tbem — Successive At- 
tempts to change the Government of the ToAvn — Plan of a Citj' Government 
adopted. 

For upwards of forty years after the adoption of the constitu- 
tion of Massachusetts, in 1780, the municipal affairs of the town 
of Boston were conducted on the same simple and economical 
scale, which antecedent practice had sanctioned. During this 
interval, the management of the schools, the attempts to incor- 
porate the town, and the arrangements for the support of the 
poor, constitute the chief topics of interest and excitement. 

Our knowledge of the proceedings relative to the schools, from 
their first establishment under the colonial law, in 1635, until the 
American Revolution, is chiefly derived from the reports of the 
selectmen, or of committees annually appointed for their super- 
vision. These state, in general, their good condition, and the 
number of scholars. 

After the peace of 1783, a committee on the schools "lament 
that so many children should be found in the streets playing and 
gaming in school hours, owing either to the too fond indulgence 
of parents, or the too lax govenmient of the schools. They 
deprecate the effect upon the rising generation ; and recommend 
that the selectmen should be enjoined to take care that no per- 
son should open a private school without their recommendation, 
agreeably to the good and salutary laws of the commonwealth." 

Occasional efforts were made for improvements of the schools; 
but no general system was adopted until October, 1789, when 
a large committee was appointed on the subject, who with 
much deliberation reported a system which, after some opposi- 
tion, was sanctioned and carried into effect. The schools then 
constituted by this arrangement were, one for the instruction of 
boys in Greek and Latin, and for fitting them for the university, 
called the Latin School, in wliich duly qualified candidates might 



TOWN GOVERNIIENT. 21 

be admitted at ten years of age, and continue four years ; tnree 
reading and three writing schools, one of each at the north, the 
centi-e, and the south part of the town, into whicli candidates 
were admitted at seven years of age, and might continue till six- 
teen. Boys might attend' all the year round ; girls, from the 
20th of April to the 20th of October. 

The selectmen, and twelve other persons, annually elected in 
town meeting by ballot, were authorized to superintend the 
schools ; to appoint masters and ushers, and fix their salaries ; 
to visit the schools once every quarter, by sub-committees, and 
exercise all the powers the selectmen h^d done under the colo- 
nial government. Votes were, subsequently, annually passed by 
the town, confirming the above authority, and occasionally 
enlarging and strengthening it. 

The school committee was organized by this arrangement 
in 1790, and its records, which commence in 1792, have been 
regularly continued.^ 

At this period there were only seven town schools, denomi- 
nated the Latin Grammar, the North Reading, the North Writ- 
ing, the South Reading, the South Writing, the Centre Reading, 
and the Centre Writing Schools. 

Their number was increased by the erection of the IMayhew 
School, at West Boston, in 1803; of the Hawes, at South Boston, 
in 1811 ; and of the Smith, for colored children, in 1812. 

The inability of the poorer classes to qualify their children for 
admission to the common schools, led the town, in 1818, to 
sanction the establishment of primary schools, for the education 
of children between four and seven years of age. 

For their management, the school committee were authorized, 
annually, to appoint three inhabitants in each ward, whose duty 
it was to provide instruction for children between the above- 
mentioned ages, and apportion the expenses among the several 
schools. 

In 1818, the Boylston School was authorized, and a school- 
house erected in 1819. 

In 1820, an English classical school was established, having 

1 The first elected members were, Hon. Thomas Dawes, Eev. Samuel West, 
Rev. Dr. Lathi-op, Rev. James Freeman, Dr. Nathaniel Appleton, Dr. Aaron 
Dexter. Dr. Thomas Welsh, .John C. Jones, Jonathan Mason, Jan., Christopher 
Gore, George Richards Minot, and William Tudor. 



22 MUNICIPAL IIISTOEY. 

for its object to, enable the mercantile and mechanical classes to 
obtain an education adapted for those children, whom their pa- 
rents wished to qualify for active life, and thus relieve them from 
the necessity of incurring the expense incident to private aca- 
demies. The candidates were to be admitted at twelve years of 
age, and continue three years; good acquaintance wdth reading, 
writing, English grammar in all its branches, and with arith- 
metic as far as Proportions, were requisite for admission. 

At the time of the transfer of the schools from the town to the 
city, their number were as foUows : 

The Latin, established in 1635 ; the Eliot, in 1713 ; the 
Adams, in 1717 ; the Franklin, in 1785 ; the Mayhew, in 1803 ; 
the Hawes, in 1811 ; the Smith, in 1812 ; the Boylston, in 1819 ; 
and the English Classical, in 1820. The number of primary 
schools were thirty-five. 

The annual expenses of the whole system, with sufficient 
accuracy, may be stated at forty thousand dollars. The salaries 
of the masters of the Latin and English Classical Schools were 
two thousand dollars each ; of the sub-masters, twelve hundred ; 
of their ushers, averaging at seven hundred. Those of the 
reading and writing masters being twelve hundred ; of their 
ushers, six hundred, with some diminution of salary in respect 
of the master at South Boston, and of the master of the school 
for colored children ; the former receiving only eight, and the 
latter only six hundred dollars annual salary. 

The number of boys attending the Latin, English, classi- 
cal, and reading schools being 1844 

Those attending the writing, 945 

2789 

The number of girls attending the reading schools, . . 883 
Those attending the writing schools, .... 8G4 

1747 

4536 

The above may be regarded, for all general purposes, a suffi- 
ciently near approximation to the number and expenses of the 
schools, and the number of those of both sexes instructed in 
them, when taken possession of by the city government. 

The events of the American Revolution had sti'engthened the 
attachment of a great majority of the inhabitants of Boston to 



TOWN GOVEIimiENT. 23 

the form of town government. In town meetings, their measures 
of opposition to the pretensions of Great Britain had been origin- 
ated, been agitated and adopted, and the affection of the inha- 
bitants to the forms, under which their efforts had been crowned 
with success, was increased. The name and character of " toum," 
became identified with the idea of popular power and civil liberty. 
This sentiment, united with the natural reluctance with which 
every people part with authority they have long and successfully 
exercised, rendered all attempts at change, not so much unpopu- 
lar, as hateful, to a majority of the inhabitants. 

The inconveniences, resulting from the form of town govern- 
ment, became, however, every year more apparent to intelligent 
and influential citizens, and in May, 1784, on the petition of a 
large number of the inhabitants, a committee ^ of thirteen was 
appointed " to consider the expediency of applying to the Gene- 
ral Court for an act»to form the town of Boston into an incorpo- 
rated city, and report a plan of alterations in the present govern- 
ment of the police, if such be deemed eligible." This committee 
was selected with great care from among the most influential and 
popular inhabitants, and on the fourth of June ensuing, they 
reported two plans ^ of a corporation, which, being read, were 

1 The committee were Samuel Adams, Joseph Barrell, Stephen Higginson, 
Charles Jarvis, William Tudor, Robert Treat Paine, Perez Morton, Samuel 
Breck, Edward Paine, James vSuUivan, Thomas Dawes, Benjamin Hichborn, 
and Caleb Davis. 

2 The following condensed abstracts of these plans will give a sufficient gene- 
ral idea of their import : — 

FIRST PLAN. 

The town to be a body politic by the name and style of the Mayor, Aldermen, 
and Common Council of the City of Boston, with the following powers and privi- 
leges : — 

1. To be invested with all the real and personal estate of the town, with power 
to dispose of the same under specified limitations. 

2. To be capable to sue and of being sued. 

3. Three meetings of the inhabitants to be held in the year, namely, — in 
March, to choose city officers ; in April, to choose state officers ; in IMay, to 
choose representatives. General meetings to be called by the mayor, at the 
request of fifty citizens. 

4. In Mai'ch, the qualified voters were to choose by ballot a mayor, a recorder, 
twelve overseers of the poor, sixteen firewards, seven assessors, a county trea- 
surer and registrar ; and, on the day following, the inhabitants of each ward to 
choose in its ward one alderman and two common councilmen. 

5. The legality of the electors to be determined by the common councU. 

6. The city officers to take the oaths of allegiance and office. 

7. The recorder to be a person discreet in the law. 

8. The mayor, recorder, and common councilmen to constitute a common 



24 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

ordered to be printed and distribntcd to each house, the town 
adjourning to the seventeenth of the same month to take them 
into consideration. At this meeting, it was voted that " the sense 
of the town be taken on the expediency of making any alterations 
in the present form of town government." On which question 
the records state, — " but the impatience of the inhabitants for 
the question being immediately put, prevented any debate 
thereon, and it passed in the negative by a great majority, and 
the meeting was immediately dissolved." 

This result did not, however, deter the friends of a change 
from further effort ; and in November, 1785, the attempt was 
renewed, on petition of a number of the inhabitants, and a com- 
mittee was chosen " to state the defects of the present constitu- 
tion of the town, and to report how far the same may be reme- 
died without an act of incorporation." This committee, com- 
posed of men of great popularity and influence, reported, pro- 
bably more from a sense of the impracticability of effecting any 
change arising from the existing state of prejudice, than from any 
want of perception of the inconveniences experienced, " that they 
do not report any defects in the constitution." After debate, this 
report was accepted, and leave given to the petitioners to with- 
draw their petition. 

council, with power to make by-laws and ordinances not repugnant to the laws 
of the commonwealth, and not to be in force until published in two newsjiapers. 

9. The common council to lia^c power to raise money ; of which the mayor 
and aldermen were to have the exclusive right of ajipropriating, laying an 
account of their expenditures before the people annually, in March. 

10, 11, and 12, relate to the trial of l)reachcs of the b3'-laws, the making a 
common seal, and to times of meeting of the common council. 

13. No assembly was to be deemed a common council, unless either the mayor 
or recorder, at least seven aldermen and thirteen common councilmen were 
present. 

The remaining articles relate to the choice of a town clerk, to the granting the 
freedom of the city, to the removal of city officers for misconduct, and to the fill- 
ing vacancies in case of their death. 

SECOND PLAN. 

This coincides with the first, except that the style of the body politic was to be 
" The President and Selectmen of the City of Boston." 

Art. 4. In ]\Iarch, the f|ualified voters were to choose by ballot a president and 
six selectmen, twelve overseers of the poor, sixteen firewards, seven assessors, a 
county treasurer and registrar ; and the day following, each ward should choose 
one selectman for such ward. 

Art. 7. The president and eighteen selectmen to constitute a city board. The 
president always to be present, with powers to make laws. 

The other articles not materially different from those of the first plan. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 25 

The subject remained dormant until December, 1791, when it 
was again renewed, by a petition of a number of the inhabitants, 
'•setting forth the want of an efficient police" on which was 
raised a large and respectable committee,^ consisting of inhabit- 
ants of leading influence in both the political parties of the 
period. This committee, after long deliberation, reported a sys- 
tem,2 which, after being read, discussed, amended in town meet- 
ing, and accepted by paragraphs, was ordered to be printed and 
distributed in handbills. The town then adjourned until the 
twenty-sixth of January ensuing, for its final consideration, when 
it was rejected ; live hundred and seventeen voters being in the 
affirmative, and seven hundred and one in the negative. 

In May following, the attempt to efl'ect a change in the sys- 
tem of town police, and for the better execution of the laws, was 
revived, and met a similar fate. 

No subsequent attempt of this kind was made until January, 
1804, when, by the increase of its population, the inconvenience 
of conducting town affairs, in general meetings, became more 
apparent to the inhabitants. A large committee ^ was, in conse- 

1 The members of the committee were, — James Sullivan, Charles Jarvis, 
Thomas Dawes, Jr., Judge Paine, William Tudor, Caleb Davis, Benjamin Aus- 
tin, Jr., Jonathan Mason, Jr., Stephen Higsinson, William Eustis, Christopher 
Gore, William Little, John Q. Adams, Edward Edes, John Lucas, Tliomas 
Tileston, James Prince, Thomas Edwards, Paul Revere, Edward Tyler, Charles 
Bulfinch. 

2 The following is a brief outline of the system reported : — 

1. That the town be divided into nine wards, as equal as may be in point of 
the iiumbers of the inhabitants of each, which the selectmen might change, if they 
saw fit, once in three years. 

2. Each ward to elect two men residing in the ward, who, with the selectmen, 
should constitute a town council, and possess the folloAving powers : — 

First, of making by-laws with limited penalties. No by-law to be enacted^ 
luitil it shall have had three several readings on three several days, and shall 
have been pubhshed for the inspection of the inhabitants ; nor be perpetual until 
reenacted by a subsequent town council, by the same formalities. 

Second, to regulate all public carriages within the town, and to raise duties 
upon them. 

Thii-d, that the town council have power to appoint annually all the executive 
officers then appointed by the town, except selectmen, town clerk, overseers of 
the poor, assessors, town treasurer, school committees, auditors of accounts, fire- 
wards, collectors of taxes, and constables. 

Fourth, to direct prosecutions for violations of the by-laws, and for this puqiose 
to appoint an attorney. 

Fifth, to apply to the General Court for the establishment of a tribunal with 
one judge, having exclusive jurisdiction of such prosecutions. 

3 The members of this committee Avere as follows : — 

Josiah SneUing, Ozias Goodwin, Robert Gai'dner. Jacob Rhoades, Redford 



26 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

quence, appointed, composed of persons very equally selected 
from the two political parties, which, at that time, divided the 
town and commonwealth, with instructions to consider and 
report any alteration in the town government they deemed expe- 
dient. 

They had frequent meetings and long deliberations, and in 
IMarch reported to the inhabitants a system ^ of municipal govern- 
ment, in which they had carefully endeavored to combine a strict 
regard to the efficiency of the new organization of authority, 
with as little offence as possible to the prejudices and habits of 
the inhabitants. Notwithstanding this endeavor, and, although 
the composition of the committee had effectually neutralized all 
political elements, the inherent attachment of the inhabitants to 
the form of town government was not diminished. A warm, 
and somewhat tumultuous debate ensued, resulting in a decided 
negative of the whole report. 

No farther attempt to change the town organization occurred 
until 1815, when Charles Bulfinch, who had been chairman of the 
board of selectmen and superintendent of police ever since the 
year 1800, and two other efficient members of that board, were 
not reelected. The circumstance was a subject of very general 
surprise and regret. Every elected member of the board of select- 
men immediately resigned, and, on a second trial, Mr. Bulfinch ^ 

Webster, Thomas Lewis, Jr., Amasa Stetson, Samuel Sturges, Thomas Edwards, 
Nathan Webb, Isaiah Doane, Jos(>ph Hall, William Spooner, James Prince, 
William Smith, Edward Gray, Harrison G. Otis, Rufus Green Amory, James 
Sullivan, George Blake, John Davis, Charles Jarvis, William Brown, and Charles 
Paine. 

1 The following outUne will give a sufficient general idea of tins system : — 
A town council to be constituted of the selectmen, chosen by the citizens in 

general meeting, and of two delegates from each ward, chosen in ward meetings. 
By this town council an intendant and all other town officers Avere to be chosen ; 
except the town clerk, the overseers of the poor, board of healtli, firewards, 
school committee, and assessors, all of whom were to be chosen by the inhabit- 
ants in town meeting ; the intendant to have the appointment of a police officer, 
and to be ex officio the presiding officer of the board of selectmen, and with them 
to have the sviperintendencc of the police and execution of the laws. 

2 Few men deserve to be held by the citizens of Boston in more grateful 
remembrance than Charles Bulfinch. After being graduated at Harvard, his 
father, a physician of eminence and fortune, permitted him to travel in Europe 
and cultivate his taste for the fine arts. On his return, he turned his attention 
to the improvement of his native town, and induced other citizens of wealth and 
enterprise to unite with him in the purchase of a portion of waste and marsh 
land, in forming it into streets, and erecting a range of buildings, now known as 
Franklin Places The cenotaph of Franklin and the open space around It were 
given by hmi and his associates to the public. This undertaking, which was too 



TOWN GOVERmiENT. 27 

and the other members of the board of the preceding year were 
reinstated by decided majorities. 

These occurrences again directed public attention to the dis- 
advantages of town government, and, on the petition of a large 
number of the inhabitants, a committee formed of two indi- 
viduals, elected in each ward, was authorized to consider the 
expediency of a change of the government. 

In October, 1815, this committee i presented a bill, accompa- 
nied by an explanatory report, which were printed for general 
distribution, and a town meeting was called on the thirteenth of 
November ensuing, to decide upon its acceptance. The system 
now proposed, was the nearest approximation to a city form of 
government any previous committee of the town had ventured 
to attempt,^ and the result came nearest to success, it being 
rejected only by a majority of thirty-one ; nine hundred and fifty- 
one being in the negative, and nine hundred and twenty in the 
affirmative. 

exiiensive for the iieriod, seriously afTeeted his fortunes, and the art he had stu- 
died for amusement became his jirofession. As the principal architect of the 
town of Boston and its vicinity, the state house and many other public build- 
ings were erected on his plans. During the many years' he presided over the 
town government, he improved its finances, executed the laws with firmness, and 
■was distinguished for gentleness and urbanity of manners, integrity and purity 
of character. Under his superintendence, Faneuil Hall was enlarged to double 
its ancient area, and the streets of the town greatly improved. In 1818, he was 
appointed by President Monroe architect of the Capitol at the city of Washin<T- 
ton. ° 

1 The members were, — John Phillips, John T. Apthorp, Ebenezer T. An- 
drews, Francis Welsh, John Mackay, Lyude Walter, Jonathan Whitnev, Wil- 
liam Homer, Jacob Rhoades, Thomas Badger, J. C. Rainsford, John Cotton, 
Redford Webster, A. Crocker, William Mackay, John Wood, Joseph Howe, 
James Robinson, Benjamin Smith, Josiah Quincy, George Blake, Benjaniia 
West. 

2 The following outline will give a sufiiclent general idea of this plan : — 
The style or title for the municipal organization was proposed to be, — ^"The 

Intendant and Municipality of the Town and City of Boston." Tlie municipal- 
ity to consist of the selectmen chosen by all the citizens in town meetinsx, and of 
two delegates from each ward, chosen by the inhabitants of the ward. This 
municipality to have power to elect annually all the officers now chosen by the 
town, except selectmen, overseers of the poor, school committee, town clerk, fire- 
wards, board of health, and assessors, wlio were to continue to be chosen by the 
inhabitants at large in town meeting. The " intendant" was to be chosen annu- 
ally by the selectmen and delegates, together with the overseers of the poor and 
board of health. The powers to be exercised, according to this project, by the 
intendant and the other organic bodies it constituted, were marked out Avith sufli- 
eicnt general precision ; _ and as all the then existing boards were continued, 
and to two of them a voice was given, in conjunction with the municipalitv. in 
the election of the intendant, it was hoped that a sufficient deference had been 
paid to popular habit and feelings, to insure its adoption. 



28 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Ill 1821, the impracticability of conducting the municipal 
interests of the place, under the form of town government, be- 
came apparent to the inhabitants. With a population upwards 
oi forty thousand, and with seven thousand qualified voters, it was 
evidently impossible calmly to deliberate and act. When a 
town meeting was held on any exciting subject in Faneuil Hall, 
those only who obtained places near the moderator could even 
hear the discussion. A few busy or interested individuals easily 
obtained the management of the most important affairs, in an 
assembly in which the greater number could have neither voice 
or hearing. 

When the subject was not generally exciting, town meetings 
wxre usually composed of the selectmen, the town officers, and 
thirty or forty inhabitants. Those who thus came were, for the 
most part, drawn to it from some official duty or private interest, 
which, when performed or attained, they generally troubled them- 
selves but little, or not at all, about the other business of the 
meeting. In assemblies thus composed, by-laws were passed ; 
taxes, to the amount of one hundred or one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, voted, on statements often general in their 
nature, and on reports, as it respects the majority of voters pre- 
sent, taken upon ti'ust, and which no one had carefully considered 
except perhaps the chairman. 

In the constitution of the town government there had resulted 
in the course of time, from exigency or necessity, a complexity, 
little adapted to produce harmony in action, and an irresponsibi- 
lity irreconcilable with a wise and efficient conduct of its affairs. 
On the agents of the town there was no direct check or control; 
no pledge for fidelity, but their own honor and sense of charac- 
ter. The prosperity of the town of Boston, under such a form 
of o-overnment; the few defalcations which had occurred; the 
frequent, and often for years uninterrupted, reelection of the same 
members to the officiating boards, are conclusive evidences of 
the prevailing high state of morals and intelligence among the 
inhabitants. 

Besides the principal boards of selectmen, the overseers of the 
poor, and that of health, there were the board of firewards, of 
assessors, and of the committee of the schools. The executive 
power was, in effect, divided among the three first above-named. 
Each of these claimed independence of the other; each pes- 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 29 

sessed a qualified control in respect of expenditures ; while, at 
the same time, their respective authorities were often obscurely 
separated, and sometimes identical. It is evident that, among 
independent boards thus constituted, petty jealousies, rivalry, 
and collisions must occasionally take place ; which accordingly 
happened. 

The management of the finances of the town presented a 
curious and somewhat anomalous spectacle. The three boards, 
of selectmen, overseers of the poor, and board of health, being 
the exclusive expending agents of the town, were also consti- 
tuted a committee of finance. They chose annually, in conven- 
tion, the treasurer and collector of the town, settled his accounts, 
and every year, in the month of March, presented to the town a 
general statement of the expenditure of each board ; and, after 
deducting the effective incomes, an estimate of the amount of 
tax necessary to be raised, to meet the anticipated expendi- 
tures of all the boards for the ensuing year. The tax thus 
proposed was often voted at a town meeting, in which the 
members of those boards themselves constituted a majority of 
the inhabitants present. When raised and collected, the pro- 
ceeds of the tax were drawn for by each of these boards, according 
to their respective exigencies, of which each board was the sole 
judge for itself. Thus, while these boards were exclusively the 
expending power, they virtually exercised the whole power of 
taxation. For the annual town tax was almost ever, without 
exception, regulated by their estimates; and each board having, 
individually, or in conjunction with the other boards, the power 
of borrowing money and of making contracts, independent of 
any previous vote of the town, both the power of forming and 
declaring the requisite annual amount of tax was, in fact, in their 
hands. A conviction of the want of safety and of responsibility 
in a machine thus complicated and loosely combined, became 
at length so general, that the inherited and inveterate antipathy 
to a city organization began perceptibly to diminish. About this 
time, also, one of the most common and formal objections to a 
city organization was removed. The constitution of Massa- 
chusetts, which was passed in 1780, contained no express author- 
ity to establish a city organization ; and, in every attempt to 
change that of the town, it never failed to be zealously con- 



30 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tended, that the legislature of the commonwealth possessed no 
such power. But by the amendments to the constitution, made 
by the convention of 1820, and adopted by the people, this power 
was expressly recognized. The question, therefore, now stood 
on its own merits, and independent of constitutional objections. 
The debates, also, which occurred in this convention had a tend- 
ency to open the eyes of the inhabitants to their own interests, 
and to allay some of the long-cherished prejudices against a 
city organization. 

The first step to the measures which finally led to this great 
change in the form of town government was rather incidental 
than preconcerted, and was the result of circumstances, which 
might be anticipated from the complicated and ill-arranged 
organization of the town system. 

Early in the commencement of the civil year, 1821, votes 
had passed in town meeting, for uniting the office of county and 
town treasurer in one person. The three boards constituting the 
committee of finance had disregarded those votes, and different 
persons were chosen to these offices. 

This proceeding w^as highly disapproved by the inhabitants. 
Votes were passed in town meeting censuring the committee of 
finance ; and a committee was chosen to take measures for car- 
rying into efiect their views relative to the union of those offices 
in one person. 

About the same time, great discontent arose in respect to the 
county expenditures ; and a committee was chosen to devise 
measures that the town might become a county by itself. Very 
full reports were made by both these committees, and a very 
general desire became apparent, that a more economical and 
practical management of the town concerns should be effected. 
Accordingly, on the twenty-second of October, a committee of 
thirteen inhabitants^ was selected, to whom the two former 
reports were referred, with instructions to report to the town " a 
complete system relating to the administration of the town and 
county, which shall remedy the present evils." 

1 The members of this committee were, — John Phillips, William SnUivan, 
Charles Jackson, Josiah Quincy, William Prescolt, AVilliam Tudor, George 
Blake, Henry Orne, Daniel AVebster, Isaac Winslow, Lemuel Shaw, Stephen 
Cod man, Joseph Tilden. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 31 

Oil the tenth of December, 1821, this committee made their 
report;^ but did not ventm-e to go farther than to recommend 
some improvements in the government of the town ; and directed 
their principal endeavors to the establishing of a police court, 
consisting of three justices paid by salaries, instead of a court of 
sessions, paid by fees ; and to effect the transfer of the transac- 
tion of the financial and other business of the town from a gene- 
ral meeting of the inhabitants to a town council. The com- 
mittee did not deem the inhabitants to be prepared to change 
the form of the executive of the town ; they, therefore, left it in 
the hands of the selectmen, with such powers as the town coun- 
cil might from time to time confer o'n them. 

After considerable debate, Benjamin K-ussell, an inhabit- 
ant at that period distinguished for his great activity and influ- 
ence on all occasions of political excitement, popular with the 
party predominating at that time in the politics of the town, and 
a leader among the mechanics, openly declared that the commit- 
tee " had not gone far enough in its alterations, and, in his opi- 
nion, a great change had been effected in the minds of the inha- 
bitants on the subject of city government," and concluded his 
remarks, by moving " that the report should be recommitted to the 
same committee, with the addition of one person from each ward 
of the tov^n, with instructions to report a system for the govern- 
ment of the town, with such powers, privileges, and immunities 
as are contemplated by the amendment of the constitution of the 
commonwealth, authorizing the General Court to constitute a 
city government." This motion was accordingly adopted, and 
twelve persons chosen and added to the former committee.^ 

On the thirty-first of December, 1821, this committee of twenty- 

1 Of this system the following is a brief outline : — 

The tOAvn government to be thus altered, — a body of assistants, to be chosen 
annually in the wards, in a ratio of one for each nine hundred inhabitants, 
which, according to the then last census, would constitute the number of forty- 
one. These assistants, Avith the selectmen, were to form a town council, and be 
charged with specified powers, and subject to specified restrictions. 

The town to form a county by itself; and the treasurer of the town to be that 
of the county. The Court of Sessions to be abolished, and its duties transferred 
to other bodies. 

A police court to be established, to have cognizance of all civil and criminal 
causes cognizable by justices of the peace. 

2 This addition to the committee was constituted of George Darracott, Redford 
Webster, Thomas Badger, James Davis, Henry Farnham, JNIichael Roulstone, 
John Cotton, Lewis G. Pray, Benjamin Russell, William Sturgis, Daniel Messin- 
ger, and Gerry Fairbanks. 



32 MUNICIPAL HISTOEY. 

five reported a system of municipal government conformably to 
their instructions, recommending indeed a change of the name 
of " town " for that of " city," but not venturing to introduce the 
names usual in city organizations, lest the ancient jealousy, 
which now seemed to slumber, should be awakened. In their 
stead, the committee proposed that the executive should be called 
" Intendant," the executive board, consisting of seven persons, 
« Selectmen," and the more numerous branch " a Board of Assist- 
ants ; " all of whom, in their aggregate capacity, should be called 
"the Common Council." The intendant to be elected by the 
selectmen ; the selectmen by general ticket ; the assistants, being 
forty-eight in number, four fo be chosen for each ward ; the over- 
seers of the poor, firewards, and school committee, by the intend- 
ant, selectmen, and assistants ; the state and United States offi- 
cers by general ticket. 

After a debate of three days, in which the report was amended, 
by denominating the executive board " Mayor and Aldermen," 
the latter to consist of eight persons, the name of the " Board of 
Assistants " being also changed into that of the " Common Coun- 
cil," and, in their aggregate capacity, " the City Council," the 
mayor, aldermen, overseers of the poor, firewards, state, and Uni- 
ted States officers to be chosen by the citizens at large, voting in 
wards, the report was so far accepted as to be submitted to the 
inhabitants for their acceptance. On the points connected with 
these amendments, the debate in town meeting chiefly turned ; 
but little opposition was made, or modifications proposed, to 
those features of the plan, which related to the distribution and 
limitations of powers among the several branches of the govern- 
ment, or to the organization of the police court. 

During the debate of the three days, considerable warmth was 
manifested, and some confusion occurred ; but the report, as 
amended, was finally submitted to the inhabitants for their sanc- 
tion, in the form of five resolves, to be decided by ballot of yea 
and nay. Of which the tenor was as follows : — 

1. That we approve of the alteration in the form of town 
government submitted by this report. 

2. That the United States and commonwealth officers be 
chosen in ward meetings. 

3. That the city council determine the number of representa- 
tives to the General Court. 



TOWN GOVERmiENT. 33 

4. That we approve that the town should be a county by 
itself, and that the town treasurer be county treasurer, that the 
court of sessions be abolished, and a police court substituted. 

5. That the name of " Town of Boston " should be changed 
into that of " City of Boston." 

On Monday, the seventh of January, 1822, the ballots of the 
inhabitants were taken on the above resolves, and all were passed 
in the affirmative as follows : — 





Yeas. 


Ncnjs. 


Majority. 


1. 


2805 


2006 


799 


2. 


2611 


2195 


416 


3. 


2G90 


2128 


462 


4. 


4557 


257 


4300 


5. 


2727 


2087 


G40 



The assent of the inhabitants being thus expressed in favor of 
this great change, measures were immediately taken to obtain 
the sanction of the legislature of the commonwealth. 



CHAPTER III. 

TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1821-1822. 

The Almshouse removed from Beacon Street to Leverett Street — -.Overseers of 
the Poor remonstrate on its Condition — Proceedings of the Legislature of 
Massachusetts on the Subject of Pauperism — Erection of a House of Industry 
authorized by the Inhabitants of Boston — Noble Conduct of Samuel Brown — 
His Character — House of Industry erected — Act of Incorporation of the 
City obtained and accepted — John Phillips chosen Mayor. 

The defects and insufficiency of the Boston Almshouse became 
a subject of earnest complaint soon after Massachusetts attained 
the rank of an independent state. By a report of a committee 
of the town in the year 1790, it appears that it was destitute of 
a separate hospital or intirmary ; that persons of every age and 
character were lodged under the same roof ; the sick disturbed by 
the noise of the healthy ; and the aged and infirm endangered 
and annoyed by the diseased and profligate. All attempts to 
change the locality of the institution were unsuccessful until the 
year 1801, when an almshouse was erected in Leverett Street, 
and that in Beacon Street discontinued and the land sold. 

The new building was of enlarged dimensions and accommo- 
dations, but its interior arrangements did not permit the separa- 
tion of age and misfortune from vice and vagrancy. In 1802, 
one year after the removal of the almshouse to Leverett Street, 
the importance of erecting another building, for a house of cor- 
rection, was forcibly urged on the town by a committee of the 
selectmen, of which Charles Bulfinch was chairman, accompa- 
nied by estimates of the probable cost. Its immediate erection 
was, however, postponed, on account of the pecuniary exigencies 
of the town. No further proceedings occurred until 1812, when 
the Overseers of the Poor themselves memorialized the town on 
the inconveniences of the Leverett Street Almshouse, and stated 
that among four hundred persons, then its inmates, nearly three 
hundred were aged, or invalids, or children '■, fifty were sick in the 
hospital, and twenty insane ; \\\zXffly were able to perform differ- 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 35 

ent kinds of worlc, some of whom were subjects of the House of 
Correction ; and with much feeling and pathos urged upon the 
town the necessity of erecting a building for that purpose, in the 
yard of the Almshouse, and prayed for authority and an appro- 
priation for the object. The report w^as unanimously accepted 
by the town, but nothing was effected in consequence ; and the 
condition of the poor in the Almshouse continued without ame- 
lioration. 

In 1820, the state of pauperism attracted the attention of the 
legislatm-e of Massachusetts ; and on the motion of one 1 of the 
representatives of the town of Boston, a special committee was 
raised on the pauper laws, of which the mover was appointed 
chairman. 

On the recommendation of this committee, the legislature 
passed a resolve, requesting the towns in Massachusetts to trans- 
mit to the secretary of state such information as their experience 
had suggested, on the best mode of supporting the poor. In 
January, 1821, the returns of the towns were referred to the 
same committee, who made a report containing abstracts of the 
most important statements in those returns, and of their conclu- 
sions on the subject, which were printed by order of the legisla- 
ture, and distributed throughout the Commonwealth. 

In May following, the town of Boston, on the petition of 
Joseph May and others, raised a committee to consider the sub- 
ject of « pauperism at large." Of this committee, the chairman 
of the legislative committee was also appointed chairman, and 
not having been present at the town meeting, he had no know- 
ledge of the petition, until he was apprised by the petitioners 
that the cause of his selection, as the chairman of the committee, 
was the coincidence of their views with the principles of his 
legislative report. That committee, therefore, in general, guided 
their proceedings by those principles, and refen-ed to them in 
their reports to the town, which, being successively sanctioned 
by the votes of the inhabitants, became the basis of the institu- 
tion now called " the House of Industry," at South Boston. 

The principles of that report to the legislature, being the 
results of the experience of both England and Massachusetts, 
were as follows : — 

^ Josiah Quincy. 



86 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

" 1. That of all modes of providing for the poor, the most 
wasteful, the most expensive, and most injurious to their morals, 
and destructive of their industrious habits, is that of supply in 
their own families. 

" 2. That the most economical mode is that of almshouses, 
having the character of workhouses or houses of industry, in 
which work is provided for every degree of ability in the pauper, 
and thus the able poor made to provide, partially, at least, for 
their own support ; and also the support, or at least the com- 
fort, of the impotent poor. 

" 3. That of all modes of employing the labor of the pauper, 
agriculture affords the best, the most healthy, and the most cer- 
tainly profitable ; the poor being thus enabled to raise always at 
least their own provisions. 

"4. That the success of these establishments depends upon 
their being placed under the superintendence of a board of over- 
seers, constituted of the most substantial and intelligent inhabit- 
ants of the vicinity. 

" 5. That of all causes of pauperism, intemperance in the use 
of spirituous liquors is the most powerful and universal." 

Coinciding in the above views, the committee of the town of 
Boston ^ held frequent meetings and discussions ; and examined 
particularly into the situation of the Boston Almshouse. Their 
view^s were corroborated and confirmed by a report made to them, 
at their request, by the Overseers of the Poor of the town, dated 
the twenty-ninth of ]\Iarch, 1821, which stated that only thirty- 
six rooms could be appropriated to lodging the inmates of the 
institution ; that these rooms oug-ht not to have more than eight 
or ten persons each, but that some of these rooms have been, in 
some winters, croivded to nearly double that number for a short 
time ; that the overseers could not distinguish the cases of the 
deserving and undeserving by any certain rule, but that not more 
than one fourth part were absolutely of the former class ; and 
that the others might be graduated from temporary to absolute 
dissoluteness, intemperance, &c. 

The report further stated, that the old almshouse included 

1 This committee were, — Josiali Qnincy, Joseph Lovcrinir, James Sa^-age, 
Henry J. OHver, Francis "Welsh, Joseph INIay, Thomas Howe, ^\"illiam Thurston, 
Abram Babcock, Samuel A. Welles, James T. Austin, Benjamin Rich, and 
Joseph Woodward. 



TOWN GOVERmiENT. 37 

three distinct establishments, — the ahiishouse, the workshop, 
and the bridewell. The first for the poor, who, from sickness, 
age, or infirmity, were unable to work at all ; the second, for the 
poor who were able to work, more or less ; the third, for persons 
committed on justices' warrants, for petty offences. That in 
December, 1800, the building in Lcverett Street was erected and 
intended for an almshouse ; but that " no building had been 
erected either for a workhouse or bridewell, and that, therefore, 
from necessity, the inhabitants of the three establishments were 
obliged to be all taken into the Almshouse, which had been thus 
occupied from the year 1800 to the date of that report, without 
the possibility of classing or separating them. 

After receiving this report from the overseers, the committee 
visited Salem, Marblehead, and Cambridge, and minutely exa- 
mined their respective almshouses ; and in May, 1821, made a 
report embracing the same general views and arguments as those 
contained in the legislative report, and showing the success of 
similar institutions in other towns of the state, and urged on the 
inhabitants of Boston the duty of discriminating between the 
poor, by reason of misfortune, old age, and infancy, and the poor, 
by reason of vice ; asserting the impossibility of making such a 
discrimination in the Boston Almshouse, and, after setting forth 
the advantages of having attached to the house erected for the 
poor a tract of land to give them the benefit of air, employ- 
ment, and exercise, and the town that of their labor, con- 
cluded with recommending the establishment of a house of 
industry, with an extent of land not less than fifty acres, that 
twenty thousand dollars should be appropriated for its com- 
mencement, and authority given to purchase the land and erect 
such buildings as might be necessary. 

This report was accepted by the inhabitants, the appropriation 
voted, and a committee appointed to carry it into effect.^ 

At the time this report was presented, the committee had 
selected as the most eligible locality for the proposed institution, 
that beautiful hill and site, commanding a view of Boston and 
its whole harbor, where the House of Industry, of Correction, 

1 This committee was composed of the same individuals as the former, except 
that David W. Child, John Bellows, John French, and George Dan-acott were 
substituted for Messrs. Austin, Lovering, May, and Woodward, who declined 
longer service upon it. 

4 



38 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

and of Juvenile Offenders are now (1851) erected, being at that 
time an open country, with comparatively no inhabitants in its 
vicinity. The tract of land, including upwards of sixty acres, 
with an immense extent of flats annexed to them, was then the 
property of Samuel Brown, a merchant, distinguished on the 
Boston Exchange for his integrity and capacity ; and it is due to 
the memory of this noble spirited individual, that a fact relative 
to this purchase should be here recorded. , 

As soon as the committee had agreed on the eligibility of this 
estate for the location of the House of Industry, the chairman 
waited on Mr. Brown, and fully explained their plans, and that 
if authorized by the town, they wished to purchase it for that 
purpose, if it could be obtained for a fak price. Mr. Brown 
replied, that he highly approved the object, thought the situation 
an eligible one, and that he had valued the land at one hundred 
dollars an acre, at which price the committee should have it, 
provided an authority should be obtained to purchase, and a 
selection made of it by the committee within three weeks. On 
being asked to make that promise in writing, he declined ; say- 
ing only, " on the terms above expressed, you shall have the 
whole tract, being six thousand three hundred acres for six thou- 
sand three hundred dollars." 

A vote of the town was accordingly obtained, and the com- 
mittee authorized the chairman, within the three weeks, to close 
the bargain with Mr. Brown on the terms specified. On stating 
the facts to that gentleman, he replied, — " Mr. Quincy, you 
know the agreement was verbal, and not binding in law ; and 
since our interview I have been ofi'ered five hundred dollars an 
acre for my land, making a difference to me over your offer of 
upwards of twent//-five thousand dollars. However, sir, I like the 
object. I think the land uncommonly well adapted to it. You 
have my word, and I am not disposed to fall back from it. You 
shall have luy deed." This was accordingly prepared imme- 
diately and executed. The value of the lands in that vicinity 
immediately rose to one thousand dollars an acre, and at no 
subsequent period could they have been purchased for less. 

Samuel Brown had been the architect of his own fortunes, was 
active, judicious, and punctual, as a man of business ; of a high 
sense of honor, distinguished for his readiness to assist his friends 
with his advice and his fortune ; public spirited, without ostenta- 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 39 

tion or any selfish views in exhibiting it. Respect for his me- 
mory should ever be cherished by the citizens of Boston. 

The estate thus obtained, was laid out by the committee, the 
House of Industry erected upon it, and on the twenty-second of 
October, they presented a detailed report, stating the peculiar 
adaptation of the situation to the wants of the contemplated 
institution to be altogether unequalled ; the soil being excellent 
and various ; the distance from the centre of the town, only two 
and a half miles by land and one and a half by water, with a 
certainty that the facility of communication must daily increase, 
and the natural growth of the town soon intimately connect the 
site with the ancient parts of it ; that the building erected was 
two hundred and twenty feet in length, forty-three feet broad, 
twenty-nine feet high ; that sti-ength, durability, and adaptation 
to the wants of the inmates had been consulted without special 
regard to the gratification of taste or architectural effect. 

The committee received the thanks of the town, and an addi- 
tional appropriation of six thousand dollars was voted for the 
object. 

On the twenty-eighth of March, 1822, the committee made 
their last report to the town. The inhabitants had, prior to this 
meeting, accepted the charter for a city, which the legislature 
had granted, and which was to be organized on the May ensu- 
ing. In this report the committee represent the progress of the 
work ; recall the attention of the inhabitants to the original 
design of the institution ; moral effect ; separation of the idle 
and vicious poor from those of an opposite character, secluding 
them from any occasional intercourse with the populous parts 
of the town and their old haunts, affording to them moral and 
religious instruction ; relieving the town from open drunken- 
ness and street beggary, and the petty pilfering carried on by 
children of the idle and vicious poor, on the wharves, in the 
streets and the market-places, and thereby, if possible, diminish 
also the expenses of the town. The inhabitants accepted the 
report; placed the additional appropriation asked for at the 
disposal of the committee ; authorized them to provide for the 
care of the house and land, to prepare a system for the general 
conduct and management of the institution, and to lay the 
same before the city authorities, who were requested to take the 
subject into their early consideration, and to carry the same into 



40 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

effective operation ; the overseers being also requested to deliver 
over any of the able-bodied poor, on the application of the com- 
mittee, to be employed at the House of Industry. 

This was the last meeting, and one of the last acts, of the 
" town of Boston ;" and in this position the subject of the House 
of Industry stood at the organization of the city government in 
May, 1822. 

After the peace of 1783, the increase of the jjopuLation of the 
town of Boston was slow and gradual, amounting in 1790 to 
about eighteen thousand ; in 1800, to twenty-five thousand ; in 
1810, to thirty-three thousand ; and in 1820, to forty-three thou- 
sand, which may be regarded, with sufficient accuracy, the num- 
ber of inhabitants at the period of the change of Boston from a 
town to a city. During the latter years of the town government, 
the data for its financial history are very complete and satisfac- 
tory, and evidence the wisdom and fidelity with which its affairs 
had been conducted. The only debt transferred from the town 
to the city government but little exceeded seventy-one thousand 
dollars, which was wholly incurred by the cost of two prisons, 
then in the course of erection, and a new court house. If little 
had been done by the town government for the widening of 
streets and increasing the general comfort of the inhabitants, 
expenditures had been kept wdthin its incomes, and the resources 
of the town were unembarrassed and unimpaired. 

The property delivered over by the town to the city was large 
and valuable, but unproductive, consisting chiefly of lands on 
the Neck or the islands, and the market under Faneuil Hall. 
The entire annual income of this property did not exceed eigh- 
teen thousand dollars. 

The measures taken to obtain from the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts a charter of incorporation were successful ; and, on the 
twenty-third of February, 1822, an act passed that body, en- 
titled "An Act Establishing the City of Boston," commonly 
called " The City Charter." 

In conformity with its provisions, the inhabitants assembled 
in general meeting on the fourth of March ensuing, and accepted 
the act by vote, taken by ballot, by a majority of nine hundred 
and sixteen. The whole number being four thousand six hun- 
dred and seventy-eight, of which two thousand seven hundred 
and ninety-seven voted in the affirmative, and one thousand 
eight hundred and eighty-one in the negative. 



TOWN GOVERNMENT. 41 

On the eighth of April ensuing, a meeting of the citizens was 
held for the election of city officers. The whole number of votes 
for mayor was three thousand seven hundred and eight. They 
were chiefly divided between Harrison Gray Otis, and Josiah 
Quincy ; but neither having a majority, no choice was effected. 

Immediately on this result, Mr. Otis and Mr. Quincy each 
dechned being a candidate for the office. On the sixteenth of 
April, John Phillips was elected mayor with great unanimity .^ 

^ The following brief outline of the principal features of this charter will 
enable those who have not the means of being familiar with its details, to com- 
pare its gcn^l provisions with the former unsuccessful attempts to obtain an 
act of incorporation for the city : — 

1. The title of the corporation to be, " The City of Boston." 

2. The control of all its concerns are vested in a mayor ; a board of alder- 
men, consisting of eight ; and a common council, of forty-eight inhabitants ; to 
be called, when conjoined, " The City Council." 

3. The city to be divided into twelve wards. The mayor and aldermen, and 
the common council, to be chosen annually by ballot, by and from inhabitants ; 
four of the common council from and by those of each of the wards. 

4. The city clerk to be chosen by the city council. 

5. The mayor to receive a salary. His duty — to be vigilant and active in caus- 
ing the laws to be executed ; to inspect the conduct of all subordinate officers ; 
to cause carelessness, negligence, and positive violation of the laws, to be prose- 
cuted and punished ; to summon meetings of either and both boards ; to com- 
municate and recommend measures for the improvement of the finances, the 
police, health, security, cleanliness, comfort, and ornament of the city. 

6. The mayor and aldermen are vested with the administration of the police, 
and executive power of the corporation generally, with specific enumerated 
powers. 

7. All other powers belonging to the corporation are vested in the mayor, 
aldermen, and common council, to be exercised by concurrent vote. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1822-1823. 

John Phillips, Mayor.^ 

Inauguration — Addi-ess of the Selectmen, on surrendering the Government 
and Muuiments of the Town of Boston — Reply of the Mayor — Measures 
adopted to carry into effect the City Charter — Donation of INIi-. Sears — 
Proceedings rcIatiA-e to the House of Industry — Result of the Fii-st Year's 
Administration of the City Government — Tribute to INIr. Phillips. 

The city government was organized, for the first time, on 
Wednesday, the first of May, 1822, with a solemnity adapted 
to the general interest excited by the occasion, and the great 
advantages anticipated from the new powers conferred by the 
city charter. 

A platform was raised at the west end of Faneuil Hall, with 
seats for the mayor, aldermen, and city council ; the selectmen 
of the past year, with other town authorities, and the chief offi- 
cers of the Commonwealth. The floor of the house and the 
galleries were filled with a crowded assembly. The city charter, 
inclosed in a silver case, was laid upon a table in front of the 
city council. After prayer, offered by the Rev. Thomas Bald- 
win, D.D., the oldest settled clergyman in Boston, the oaths of 
allegiance and of office were administered to John Phillips, the 
mayor elect, by Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of the Common- 
wealth; and afterwards, by the mayor, to the aldermen and 
common council. 

The chairman of the last board of selectmen^ then rose and 
addressed the convention, stating the grant of a city charter by 
the legislature of the State to the inhabitants of Boston ; their 

1 The whole number of votes cast at this election for city officers were 2650 ; 

of wliich Mr. Phillips had 2500. The aldermen elected were : — 

Samuel Billings, Joseph Jenkins, 

Ephraim Eliot, Joseph Lovering, 

Jacob Hall, Nathaniel P. Russell, 

Joseph Head, Bryant P. Tilden. 

~ Eliphalet AVilliams. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 43 

acceptance of it ; their election of the members of the respective 
executive and legislative boards ; the presence of these boards, 
and iheir complete organization, according to the provisions of 
the city charter. In obedience, therefore, to the law, and in con- 
formity with the will of the inhabitants of Boston, and in behalf 
of the selectmen of the ancient town, he delivered into the charge 
of the new authorities the town records and title deeds, and the 
act establishing the city of Boston. He then concluded with 
congratulating his fellow-citizens on the organization of their 
municipal affairs under a city charter, and on the wisdom with 
which they had selected those who were destined to give the first 
impulse and dkection to the operations of the new government. 

The Mayor, in reply, paid a just tribute to the wisdom of our 
ancestors, as displayed in the institutions for the government of 
the town of Boston, under which, for nearly two centuries, so 
great a degree of prosperity had been attained, and during which 
the gi'cat increase of the population of the place had alone made 
this change in the administration of its affairs essential. He 
then responded to the congratulations and civilities of the Chair- 
man ; acknowledged the obligations of the city government for 
the care the selectmen had taken in providing for the accommo- 
dation of their successors; and bore testimony to the full evi- 
dence, exhibited by the records, of the abihty, diligence, and 
integrity of those who had been successively, and justly, denomi- 
nated " The Fathers of the Town." 

The Mayor then proceeded to remark, in respect of those 
" who encouraged hopes, which could never be realized, and of 
those who indulged unreasonable apprehensions, in regard to the 
city charter, that they would derive benefit from reflecting, how 
much social happiness depended on other causes than the provi- 
sions of a charter. Purity of manners ; general diffusion of 
knowledge; sti'ict attention to the education of the young; and, 
above all, a firm, practical belief in Divine revelation and its 
sanctions, will counteract the evils of any form of government ; 
and, while love of order, benevolent dispositions, and Christian 
piety, distinguish, as they have done, the inhabitants of Boston, 
they may enjoy the highest blessings under a charter with so 
few imperfections as that which the wisdom of the legislature 
had sanctioned." ^ 

1 See Appendix A. 



44 MUNICIPAL HISTOEY. 

After retiring from Faneuil Hall, the members of the respect- 
ive boards met in separate rooms, and the common council, hav- 
ing chosen their president ^ and clerk,^ both boards assembled in 
convention and elected a city clerk.^ They then, respectively, in 
their separate chambers, proceeded to the consideration of business 
requiring immediate attention ; established rules and orders regu- 
lating the intercourse between the two boards ; passed orders con- 
tinuing in force the by-laws of the late town ; establishing rules 
and regulations for the preservation of public health, and for the 
appointment of temporary health commissioners. And in due 
course of the ensuing and succeeding months, all the various 
measures, for the choice of city officers, and for the efficient 
organization of the different departments incident to city police, 
and required by law, were taken ; and, as far as practicable, the 
customs and forms to which the citizens had been familiarized 
under the government of the town, were adopted. Three sur- 
veyors of highways were appointed, and also a committee of 
the board of aldermen for their advisement. The city engines 
were intrusted to the firewards. Salaries for the respective city 
officers voted. A board, consisting of a joint committee of the 
two boards, denominated "Auditors of City Accounts," was 
constituted, whose prescribed duty it was to audit them, to 
report cases of difficulty, with their opinion, to the city council, 
monthly. The amount of each account, when sanctioned by 
them, was drawn for, on the city treasurer, by the city clerk. 

A city seal was adopted, its impression exhibiting a general 
view of the city of Boston, with the respective dates of the 
foundation of the city and of the grant of its charter, bearing 
the motto, " Sicut Patribus sit Deus nobis" In December of this 
year a vote passed both boards, authorizing an application to the 
legislature for investing the mayor and aldermen with the power 
of surveyors of highways. No further steps were taken, how- 
ever, to effect this change in the provisions of the city charter. 

Early in 1823, a collision of opinion occurred between the 
mayor and aldermen and the common council, concerning the 
interest of the city, which brought before those authorities, for 
distinct consideration, the question, whether the mayor and alder- 
men had the power to receive a gift, upon condition, for the 

1 William Prescott. ~ Thomas Clarke. 

3 Samuel F. McCIeary. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 45 

benefit of the city, without the concuiTence of the common 
council. David Sears, a citizen distinguished for wealth, libe- 
rality, and public spirit, had transferred rights, consisting of six 
hundred shares in certain lands and buildings, near the public 
market of the city, called " Museum Hall," of the estimated 
value of sixty thousand dollars, to the mayor and aldermen of 
the city, on condition that the whole property should be vested 
and managed by them at their discretion ; and one half of the 
income, forever, paid over to Mr. Sears or his heus, and the other 
half be applied to improving or ornamenting the lands of the 
city, lighting the sti*eets, and other specified objects. This dona- 
tion was received unanimously by the mayor and aldermen. 
And, so much pleased were they with the gift, that, at their sug- 
gestion, Mr. Sears, at some labor and expense, possessed himself 
of the whole remaining rights in those lands and buildings, con- 
sisting of two hundred additional shares, of the estimated value 
of sixteen hundred dollars, and transferred them to the same 
board, on like conditions. The arrangement had proceeded thus 
far before it was communicated to the common council ; and, 
when apprized of this transaction, that board took it into very 
serious consideration by a committee, and finally voted unani- 
mously that it was not for the interest of the city to accept the 
donation. Whatever other motives may have mingled in pro- 
ducing the rejection of this gift, the principal reason stated was, 
that it would interfere with the profitable employment of the 
property which the city then held, and thus prove ultimately 
injm-ious to it. 

The consequent embarrassment of the mayor and aldermen 
was of course excessive ; which was increased by the declaration 
of the committee of the common council to the donor, that, 
although it might be a complete contract between him and the 
present mayor and aldermen, as individuals, it would not bind 
their successors, as the transaction had not the concurrence of 
the common council. 

From the dilemma in which the mayor and aldermen were 
thus involved they were immediately relieved, in a higlily 
honorable manner, by JVIr. Sears; who, in writing, requested 
them to reinvest him with the property, preferring to bear the 
great loss to which he was thus subjected, rather than be the 
occasion of any embarrassment to that body, or any cause of 



46 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

conti-oversy between the t\vo boards. The reinvestment was 
accordingly made ; and a vote passed by the mayor and alder- 
men, expressing their respectful sense of Mr. Sears's intentions 
and views, and then* high approbation of his delicacy, in reliev- 
ing the city government from the embarrassment in which it had 
been involved, by the difl'erent views taken by the common 
council and the board of aldermen of this donation. 

During the first year of the city, its financial concerns Avere 
managed on a scale not materially varying, either in spirit or 
amount, from that of the town government. The committee on 
that subject expressed "then* unqualified approbation of the 
manner in which the affairs of Boston have hitherto been con- 
ducted, throughout all the departments;" and their "hope, that 
changes, not absolutely necessary, will be made with caution 
and distrust, and with much consideration." These views had 
been carried into effect by the first administration, and this hope 
realized. No new debt had been created during the year. The 
expenses, both of the county and city, had been kept within theii- 
incomes ; and the second administration received from the fii'st 
all the property it had received from the town, unembarrassed 
and unirapaned. 

Under the town government, the financial year had com- 
menced on the first day of May. This year, its commencement 
was changed to the first day of June. The change was not 
found convenient ; and in the year 1826, the first of May was 
again constituted its connnenceraent. 

In July, 1822, the sole existing debt of the city to be provided 
for, was stated to be $ 100,000. 

The current expenses were estimated to amount, 

in roimd numbers, to . . . . . $ ■24:9,000 
And were provided for by loan of . 3 "28,000 
By speeified ways and means . . * 81,000 
And by a citv tax .... Mo.OOO 

S 249,000 

The course pursued by the city government, in relation to the 
House of Industry, forms an important feature of its proceedings 
during this period. The first city council of Boston were organized 
on the fii-st of May, 1822. On the third of that month, the 
committee on the House of Industry made a communication to 
the city council, recapitulating the authority given to them by 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 47 

the town, to prepare a system for the general conduct, manage- 
ment, and discipline of the institution ; and informing that body 
that, by the laws of the Commonwealth, the power to devise 
such a system was specially invested in the Board of Overseers 
of the Poor, a fact which was not considered by the town when 
that vote was passed. The Committee, therefore, stated, that 
they had omitted the execution of that authority until they 
apprized the city government of that fact, and received their 
instructions. They also stated, that the House of Industry was 
far advanced towards its completion, and would be in a condi- 
tion to receive tenants in five or six weeks ; and suggested the 
expediency of an application to the legislature of the Common- 
wealth, or a reference of the subject to the Overseers of the 
Poor. 

Several considerations induced the Committee to adopt this 
course, 'in the first place, doubts began to be entertained, whe- 
ther the House of Industry would ever be put into operation. 
The Overseers made no concealment of their hostility to the 
plan of removing the poor to South Boston. It was known 
that there was a powerful influence at work in that body in 
favor of selling the House of Industry, and enlarging the ac- 
commodations in Leverett Street. It therefore could not be ex- 
pected the Committee should assume the labor and responsibility 
of preparing the details of a system for an establishment which 
might never be carried into effect; and, if it were, might be 
placed in hands hostile or indifferent to the principle on which 
they might recommend it should be conducted. They were also 
apprehensive that, if they assumed, even under the vote of the 
town, the authority which the laws of the Commonwealth in- 
vested in the Overseers of the Poor, it might create an increased 
repugnance in them to the institution at South Boston. 

The animosity of that board to this establishment will appear 
hereafter. It is here alluded to, as explaining why the House of 
Industry remained unoccupied the whole of the first year of the 
city government, and indicating the cause of the general course 
of proceeding during that year, in relation to it. 

The communication of the Committee was refen'ed by the 
City Council to the Overseers of the Poor, and to the Committee 
of the House of Industry ; and they were requested, in conjunc- 
tion, to take the subject into consideration, and to devise a plan 



48 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

for the superintendence and government of said house, such as 
they should deem useful, and report it to the City Council. 

Those two bodies had, accordingly, several meetings on the sub- 
ject, in which the Overseers made no concealment of their want of 
sympathy with the institution at South Boston ; refused to be in 
any way concerned in its superintendence ; and declined enter- 
ing upon the consideration of a system for its discipline and 
management. The result of their deliberations was^ reported to 
the City Council by the Committee of the House of Industi'y : 
that the Board of Overseers and that Committee, after joint con- 
sideration, were unanimous in the opinion that, in the present 
increased and rapidly increasing state of this metropolis, and the 
necessarily extensive character of the contemplated institution, 
it would be impracticable for the Overseers of the Poor to under- 
take the management and discipline of said house ; and recom- 
mended that an application should be made to the legislature of 
Massachusetts for the establishment of a new board, for these 
purposes, with powers similar to those now possessed by the 
Overseers of the Poor; reserving to the latter a concurrent 
power, of committing persons liable to be sent to that house. 
A bill was also prepared by the Committee, which, if approved 
by the City Council, they recommended as the basis of an act 
to be applied for to the State legislature. The City Council 
accepted the report, adopted the bill, and requested the represent- 
atives of the city to endeavor to obtain an act from the legisla- 
ture in conformity with its provisions. Objections to the bill 
were raised, and nothing effectual done by the legislature during 
the spring session of that body. 

In June, 1822, Mr. Brooks, chairman of the Committee of 
Finance, addi-essed a note to the chairman of the Committee 
of the House of Industry, inquiring concerning " the time and 
manner in which it was proposed to put that establishment into 
operation ; and whether any further sums would be wanting 
from the city treasury ? " To which it was replied, that, " in 
all essential and important particulars, the building had been 
erected within the appropriations ; that furniture, fences, work- 
shops, and subsidiary buildings were still to be provided. That 
the Committee of the House of Industry considered themselves 
only as agents, to carry into effect the wise and humane inten- 
tions of the inhabitants ; that they wanted no additional appro- 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 49 

priation ; and that they were preparing to deliver up the house to 
the care of the city authorities, as soon as certain minor details 
were effected." This they accordingly did, on the sixteenth of 
September following, in a report stating the degree of complete- 
ness it had attained ; and that, excepting fences and outbuild- 
ings, the establishment was ready for occupation. After recapi- 
tulating the several successive authorities under which the land 
had been pm'chased, the house built, and the amount expended, 
(forty thousand and one hundred dollars,) they expressed a hope, 
that the great and interesting objects the inhabitants of the 
town had in view in its foundation, might be attained under 
the wise management of the City Council ; and that it might 
result, " as they cannot doubt it will, in much moral reformation 
among the poor, and in a considerable annual reduction in one 
of the heaviest branches of city expenditure," 

The City Council refen*ed this report to a joint committee; 
but before any proceedings occurred under that reference, a vote 
passed both branches of that body, on the twenty-third of the 
same month, implying a neglect of duty in the Committee of 
the House of Industry, in the following words : " Whereas, the 
Committee raised to erect a House of Industry were instructed 
in the month of March, 1821, ' to form, a system for the conduct 
of that institution;^ and that Committee having reported that 
the house is nearly completed, but that Committee not having; 
reported any such system, — voted, that the Mayor of the city be 
requested to call on that Committee to favor the city govern- 
ment with their opinion on the most expedient mode of putting 
the said institution to the uses intended by the establishment 
thereof." 

The object of this vote was too apparent not to be perceived 
by the Committee of the House of Industry. They held an im- 
mediate meeting ; and, on the thirty -first of October, their chair- 
man, under their sanction, made a report, stating, in vindication 
of the Committee, " that, so far from neglecting the duty im- 
posed upon them by the town, as the vote of the City Council 
indicated, that Committee did, on the third of May, two days 
after the organization of the city government, make a communi- 
cation to the City Council, informing them that, by the laws of 
the Commonwealth, the power to devise such a system for the 
poor, as the vote of the town indicated, was vested alone in the 
5 



50 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Overseers of the Poor; that the City Council had thereupon 
referred that subject to the Overseers of the Poor and the Com- 
mittee of the House of Industry ; that, on the seventeenth of 
May, those two bodies met in convention, agreed upon the provi- 
sions of a bill for the discipline and management of said house, 
which, having been subsequently modified in both branches 
of the City Council, had been referred to the representatives of 
the city, for the purpose of obtaining the sanction o^ the legisla- 
ture ; and that thus, the Committee of the House of Industry, 
so far from not having fulfilled the instructions of the town, as 
the vote of the City Council intimated, they had specifically 
performed it, as far as the nature of their powers authorized, and 
this, not only with the acquiescence, but under the sanction and 
with the assistance of the City Council which had passed this 
vote of implied censure. 

Touching the most expedient mode of putting the institution 
to the uses proposed by those who established it, they intimated 
that the fii-st step was to obtain the sanction of the legislature 
to the bill which the City Council had recommended ; that, 
whenever such a bill should pass, and the superintending board 
of directors be elected, it would be easy to adopt a system 
for its discipline and management, by selecting and collat- 
ing the wise rules which the experience of other towns in the 
Commonwealth had shown to be effectual for the attainment of 
the object the inhabitants of the town proposed to themselves 
by its establishment, namely, — 1st. To occupy the able-bodied 
poor on the land, thereby giving them a healthful exercise, and 
enabling them to contribute somewhat to their own support. 
2d. By giving the sick and infirm poor a freer air, and enabling 
them to have a freer range for exercise, in a farm of fifty or sixty 
acres, than it was possible in thickly settled parts of the town to 
obtain. 3d. By removing them from the city, within wiiich the 
necessity of allowing the inmates of the Almshouse an oppor- 
tunity to take air and exercise, led to a practice of turning them 
weekly upon the inhabitants, subjecting families to a w^eekly 
visitation of vice and beggary ; a practice not less annoying to the 
citizens, than it was incompatible with good order and discipline. 

The Committee proceeded to state, that the want of an institu- 
tion of this kind had long been felt, and had been urged on the 
town, by one of its committees, in the year 1802. Again, in 1812, 



CITY GOVERNIklENT. 51 

the Overseers of the Poor themselves had memorialized the town 
on the subject of the inadequacy of the Boston Almshouse to the 
necessities of the town. In 1821, it had been taken up by the in- 
habitants, on their own voluntary motion ; and that the House of 
Industry had been built, and the land on which it was located pur- 
chased, at an expense of nearly fifty thousand dollars. The Com- 
mittee then proceeded to illustrate the views entertained by the 
friends of the institution, and to show how it was expected both to 
promote the comfort of the poor and diminish the expenditures 
of the town. They then illustrated the extraordinary convenience 
and adaptation of the location for such an institution ; recom- 
mended its being put into immediate operation in the spirit and 
on the principles in which it originated, as soon as the ensuing 
season will permit ; and tendered to the City Council their col- 
lective and individual communication of whatever knowledge 
or opinion they may possess on the subject of the government 
and discipline of the house, whenever the City Council should 
honor them with such a request. 

This report was committed to a joint committee of the City 
Council, of which the Mayor, (John Phillips,) was chairman ; 
who, on the twelfth of December following, reported to the 
City Council that they had examined the House of Industry 
and its buildings ; that great credit was due to the Committe(5 
which had superintended it; that the Committee of the City 
Council were surprised to find so spacious and convenient a 
structure, with a wharf, barn, and house for a superintendent, 
completed for forty thousand dollars ; that u-hatever dunbt the 
Committee might have felt in recommending the erection of such 
an establishment, they declare their opinion that it ought now to 
be completed ; and they recommend a further appropriation of 
five thousand dollars, to be placed at the disposal of the same 
Committee, who had so generously and faithfully superintended 
the erection of the building, to lay out the grounds and pm-chase 
implements of agriculture, and for the erection of additional out- 
houses. 

As to the occupation of the house, the Committee of the City 
Council expressed great difficulty. They recommend, however, 
that such of the poor as were capable of labor should be removed 
to it, as soon as the contemplated improvements were completed, 
they being of opinion that the poor of the city would be more 



52 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

comfortably situated at South Bostou than in the Boston Alms- 
house, the air being more pure, the buildings more commodious, 
the yard more spacious and comfortable ; and they declared 
themselves not aware of any inconvenience which would attend 
their removal. 

This report was accepted in the Board of Aldermen, and was 
the only step taken during the first year of the city government 
indicative of even an intent to carry the project of a transfer of 
the poor to South Boston into execution. 

The measures proposed by the aldermen were, however, 
checked in the Common Council, by a vote recommitting the 
whole subject, and " instructing the Committee to report to what 
use the House of Industry may be put ; and what difficulties 
present themselves, if any, in using the said house conform- 
ably to the original objects in creating said estabhshment ; and 
that said Committee be requested to report in writing their 
opinion, in conformity to this vote ; and that if said Committee 
should be of opinion that any legislative act be necessary, that 
they report any bill, in conformity with that opinion." 

Under this vote, on the recommendation of that Committee, 
the bill originally submitted by the Committee of the House of 
Industry was revived by vote of the City Council ; and, on the 
third of February, 1823, an act was obtained from the legislature 
of Massachusetts, vesting in the Directors of the House of In- 
dustry like powers, relative to governing that house, as were 
before had and exercised by Overseers of the Poor, with other 
provisions the above Committee had recommended. 

On the thirteenth of January, 1823, the subject had assumed a 
different attitude. Another Committee of the City Council had 
reported that a house of coiTection was wanted in the County of 
Suffolk ; that the Almshouse in Boston was now the only place of 
restraint ; that it had only thirty-tivo rooms for the accommodation 
of more than three hundred and eig-hty inmates; that some contain 
fourteen persons, and none less than five, of all ag-es and colors, 
and in every stag-e of poverty and disease, produced by misfortune 
and vice ; in rooms miserably adapted to the numbers croicded into 
them ; that feio places exhibit a more incongruous and unfit mixture 
of the departments of a hospital, — an cUmshouse and house of cor- 
rection ; that those ivho mould contribute to their oivn maintenance 
cannot in such a place, and that many could do so cannot be doubted. 



CITY GOVEROTVIENT. 53 

They, therefore, recommend that the Boston Almshouse and 
the House of Industry should both be mamtained ; the former to 
be a receptacle of the aged, infirm, and sick poor, and little 
chikh-en, under the care of the Overseers of the Poor, the latter 
to be a house for the employment of those poor who are subjects 
of commitment to a house of correction, and under the care of 
the Directors of the House of Industry. 

This report was accepted in both branches of the City Council. 
And in concurrence with its recommendations, the act authoriz- 
ing the City Council to choose nine directors of the House of In- 
dustry contained a section, giving to the Overseers of the Poor 
and Justices of the Police Court concurrent jurisdiction and 
the same powers, in relation to commitments to the House of 
Industry as previously existed in the laws of the Commonwealth 
in relation to commitments to houses of correction. 

This attempt to turn the House of Industry into a house of 
correction, was not only wholly incompatible with the original 
design of the town, in authorizing its erection, but would have 
defeated the whole project had it been carried into execution. 
The comfort, the health, the exercise, and the useful employment 
of the virtuous and respectable poor, was the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the design. The superior advantage for these purposes, 
in a situation removed from the throng of a city, and having 
space enough for the useful employment of the poor on the land, 
and the adaptation of this mode of employment for every age, 
sex, and state of capacity for labor, were among the declared 
inducements for the selection of the location and the appropria- 
tion for the building. The House of Industry was not constructed, 
nor had it any strong rooms and iron vaulted cells, for the restraint 
of sturdy rogues and vagabonds. 

The picture drawn by this last Committee of the City Council, 
of the actual state of the Boston Almshouse, is sufficient to show 
not only the wisdom, but the necessity of a total change in that 
institution. It was not exaggerated ; but, on the contrary, defi- 
cient in details, of a very gross and disgusting character, esta- 
blishing still more strongly the necessity of a change in the local 
relations of the poor in the city of Boston. 

Such was the state of the question, relative to the establish- 
ment of the House of Industiy, at the termination of the first 
year of the city government. The decided animosity to the insti- 



54 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tution now began to assume an unquestionable shape, and it was 
very apparent to all who took an interest in the subject that its 
fate depended upon the character and dispositions of the next 
City Council. 

The preceding outline embraces all the measures during this 
year of the city government, which were important or conclu- 
sive, except those which are incident annually to the organiza- 
tion of every municipal authority ; — such as the organization of 
the several boards of firewards, health, and highways ; appoint- 
ing the various officers of police and finance, with the several 
classes of surveyors, sealers, and inspectors ; superintending the 
public lands and public schools ; establishing rules and regula- 
tions for the watch; repairing of the streets and public buildings; 
licensing theatrical and other exhibitions ; establishing the sala- 
ries of city officers ; and, in general, exercising all the duties 
naturally incident to the ordinary routine of municipal organiza- 
tion and to the exercise of municipal powers. 

The proceedings of the city government, during the first year of 
its existence, relative to the Commissioners of Health, the en- 
largement of Faneuil Hall Market, the erecting tombs under 
churches, the lands west of Charles Street and the Common, 
then called " the ropewalk lands," though taken into considera- 
tion, yei having resulted in no action of a general and permanent 
character, will be stated in connection with the account given of 
those subjects in the history of the next succeeding administration 
of the city, when they were each successively and carefully invest- 
igated and arranged in new forms, or finally settled on appro- 
priate principles. 

The result of the administration of city affairs during this first 
year had not met the expectations of the inhabitants. They had 
anticipated from the new charter great changes in the conduct 
of their municipal concerns. They had flattered themselves that 
the new form of organization would lead to more efficient, ener- 
getic, and responsible measures than could be obtained under the 
old. Obscure and indefinite hopes had been entertained of 
improvements in particular localities, which would result in 
increased accommodation of the inhabitants, and encourage both 
the growth and enlargement of the city. But when, at the close 
of the city year, they found none, or but few of these fond antici- 
pations realized, and that their aff^airs, though conducted with 



CITY GOVEHmiENT. 55 

great care, judgment, and fidelity, had received no new impulse 
fi'om the newly invested powers, but that the course of manage- 
ment had deviated but little from that they had experienced 
under the ancient form of government, the disappointment was, 
in a manner, general, and began to be expressed. 

The ]\Iayor himself was not insensible to this state of feeling ; 
and so far as he was responsible for it, the circumstances in 
which he had been placed explained the cause, and were a justi- 
fication of the com'se of his administration. Prudence, caution, 
and conservatism, were his predominating characteristics; and, 
when called suddenly to a station he had not anticipated, he 
naturally hesitated to venture upon changes, of which the de- 
vising was critical and laborious, and the result uncertain. These 
tendencies of his mind were increased and strengthened by a state 
of health, which within one month after the close of his mayor- 
alty, terminated his life. 

Few citizens have fulfilled the duties of the respective stations 
to which they have been called with more fidelity than Mr. Phil- 
lips. The evidence of the confidence of his fellow-citizens was 
continued through a long series of years. He had for more than 
twenty-five years been, without an omission, elected a member 
of one of the branches of the state government, and for ten years 
had been uninterruptedly chosen President of the Senate of the 
Commonwealth, and in all been distinguished for acceptable and 
efficient service. 

The tribute paid to his administration, by his successor, in his 
inaugural discourse, it is proper here to quote, on account both 
of its truth and justice. "After examining," he states, " and con- 
sidering the records of the proceedings of the city authorities, for 
the past year, it is impossible for me to refrain from expressing 
the sense I entertain of the services of that high and honorable 
individual who filled the Chair of this city, as well as of the wise, 
prudent, and faithful citizens who composed, during that period, 
the City Council. Their labors have been, indeed, in a measure, 
unobtrusive ; but they have been various, useful, and well con- 
sidered. They have laid the foundations of the prosperity of our 
city deep and on right principles. And whatever success may 
attend those who come after them, they will be largely indebted 
for it to the wisdom and fidelity of their predecessors. A task 
was committed to the first administration to perform, in no com- 



56 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

moil degree arduous and delicate. The change from a town 
to a city had not been effected without considerable opposition. 
On that subject many fears existed, which it was difficult to 
allay, many jealousies hard to overcome. In the outset of a 
new form of government, among variously affected passions and 
interests, and among indistinct expectations, impossible to realize, 
it was apparently wise to shape the course of the first adminis- 
tration rather by the spirit of the long experienced constitution 
of the town, than by that of the unsettled charter of the city. 
It was natural for prudent men, first intrusted with city author- 
ities, to apprehend that measures partaking of the mild, domestic 
character of our ancient institutions, might be as useful, and 
would be likely to be more acceptable than those which should 
develop the entire powers of the new government. It is yet to 
be proved, whether in these measures om* predecessors were not 
right. In all times the inhabitants of this metropolis have been 
distinguished preeminently for a free, elastic, republican spnit. 
Heaven grant that they may be forever thus distinguished I It 
is yet to be decided, whether such a spirit can, for the sake of 
the peace, order, health, and convenience of a great and rapidly 
increasing population, endure without distrust and discontent, 
the application of necessary city powers to all the exigencies 
which arise in such a community." 

Neither the inclination nor the health of IVIr. Phillips permitted 
him to become a candidate for a second election ; and his with- 
drawal being announced, the several parties into which the city 
was then divided, held, as is usual on such occasions, their assem- 
blies for the selection of his successor. A committee ^ of the depu- 
tation from all the wards of the city soon waited upon the 
individual whom they had agreed upon, and who was finally 
elected to the office of mayor, and distinctly stated to him, 
that the municipal- affairs of the city had become a subject of 
more than common solicitude, and that, in communicating to 
him his selection, by a large meeting of citizens, as the candidate 
for that office, they deemed it proper to express, as the wishes 
and expectations of that assembly, that the measures of the ensu- 
ing administration should be characterized by great activity and 
energy, and that a full development should be given as far as 

I Benjamin Russell, Jonathan liunneweli, John T. Apthorp. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 57 

possible to all the executive powers granted by the charter. To 
which that individual rephed, that should the sutlrages of his 
fellow-citizens result in his election, the alFairs of the city should 
be guided, so far as his influence extended, by the principles and 
views the Committee, in their behalf, had expressed. ^ 

1 Fortlie members of the City Council from 1822 to 1830, inclusive, see 
Apjjendix, M. 



CHAPTER V. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH Quixc'Y, Mayors 

Organization of the City Government — Mayor's Address — Importance of the 
Ollicial llesponsibility of that Oificer — Difficulties relative to the Office of 
Surveyors of Highways — Embarrassments' from the Board of Health — Duty 
of Cleansing the Streets devolved on the Mayor and Aldermen, and how exe- 
cuted — Board of Health discontinued, and their Duties transferred to other 
Officers. 

The municipal authorities of the City of Boston were organ- 
ized for the second time on the first of May, 1823, in conformity 
with the provisions of its charter, in Faneuil Hall, in the presence 
of a large concourse of citizens. After a prayer by the Rev. 
James Freeman, John Phillips, the first Mayor of Boston, admin- 
istered, as Justice of the Peace, the oaths of office to his suc- 
cessor. 

The Mayor, in his inaugural address, after paying a due tribute 
to his predecessor,- deduced the spirit of the city charter from its 
language and the exigencies which led to its adoption, and 
explained his views of the powers and duties of the office of 
]\Iayor, and the principles by which he should endeavor to exe- 
cute and fulfil them. Among the defects of the ancient town 
organization, was the division of the executive power among 
several independent boards, whereby the responsibility of the 
individual members of each was lessened, and that which did 
exist could easily be transferred from one board to another. 
The general superintendence over all the boards, being vested 

1 The whole number of votes were 4,766 ; of which Josiah Quincy had 2,505. 

The Aldermen elected were, — David W. Child, Asluir Benjamin, Enoch 
Patterson, Joseph H. Dorr, Stephen Hooper, Daniel Baxter, Caleb Eddy, and 
George Odiorne. 

Tlie Connnon Council elected John Welles its President, and Thomas Clark its 
Clerk. The City Council elected Samuel F. !McCleary City Clerk, an office 
which he now holds, and has held bv successive annual elections to this day, 
(1851.) 

~ See chap. iv. pp. 55, 56. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 59 

particularly in no one, the important duty of investigating their 
relations to one another, and their adequacy to the public service, 
was either wholly neglected, or performed only occasionally, and 
in a very irresponsible manner. To remedy these defects, the 
city charter enjoins on the Mayor, as the executive officer, the 
performance of these duties, invests him with the requisite 
powers, and thus renders him responsible, both in character and 
station, for their efficient exercise and fulfilment ; ample secu- 
rity against the abuse or neglect of those powers being provided 
for in the constitutional control of the City Council and the 
annual elections by the citizens. With these general views, the 
Mayor proceeded to state, that he regarded the duties of the 
executive officer, as resulting from the provisions of the charter, 
to be the identifying himself, absolutely and exclusively with the 
character and interests of the city, studying and understanding 
all its rights, whether afi'ecting property, or fiberty, or power, and 
the maintaining them, not merely with the zeal of official sta- 
tion, but with the pertinacious spirit of private interest. Of local, 
sectional, party, or personal divisions, he should know nothing, 
except for the purpose of healing the wounds they inflict, or soft- 
ening the animosities they excite. The honor, happiness, dig- 
nity, safety, and prosperity of the city, the development of its 
resources, its expenditures, and police, should be the perpetual 
object of his purpose, and labor of his thought. All its public 
institutions should be the subject of frequent inspection ; and 
above all, its schools should engage his utmost solicitude and 
unremitting superintendence. Anticipating the rival projects, 
individual interests, personal influences, by which an executive 
officer would be beset in executing the police, protecting the 
rights, and promoting the prosperity of the city, and that, in pro- 
portion to his firmness and inflexibility, his motives and princi- 
ples would be assailed, the Mayor relied with confidence, that his 
faithful endeavors to uphold the interests of the city, would 
receive countenance and support from the intelligence and virtue 
of the citizens. In relation to his fulfilment of the obligations 
resulting from the city charter, he promised nothing except a 
laborious fulfilment of every known duty, a prudent exercise of 
every invested power, and a disposition shrinking from no official 
responsibility.! 

1 See Appendix B. 



60 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

The prominence given in this address to the defects of the 
ancient town organization, and of the remedy provided for them 
in the powers of the Mayor, was, in his view, made necessary 
from the particular circumstances of the city at that time, and 
from the apprehension that the changes those circumstances 
required, might be the occasion of jealousy and discontent. 

Five distinct Boards, — that of Health, of Surveyors of High- 
ways, of the Overseers of the Poor, of Firewards, and of the 
School Committee, — then exercised powers, of which some were 
unequivocally executive, and of which all were, under the city 
charter, without question, properly subject to the general super- 
vision of the Mayor. All these Boards were, more or less, iden- 
tified with the habits and prejudices of the citizens ; the mem- 
bers of many of them had been long in office, and under the 
town form of government had enjoyed, in their respective spheres, 
unqnestionable authority. Some of them had exercised under 
the i^ame name the same powers, from very distant, and others 
from the most ancient periods of the existence of the town. 
Each had proportions of efficient power and local influence. 
Each friends, by whom, and circles, within which, the exercise 
of its particular authorities was deemed useful, and often indis- 
pensable. With some, emoluments were connected ; and with all, 
the ]ileasure of exercising beneficial authority and enjoying use- 
ful distinction. 

By the provisions of the city charter, the members of some of 
the boards continued to be chosen directly by the citizens ; and 
thus deriving their authority immediately from the people, were 
disposed to consider themselves subject to very limited respon- 
sibility to the City Council, and as independent of the authority 
of the Mayor. They were reluctant to acknowledge themselves 
subject to the inspection of that officer, as this implied they were, 
in the language of the city charter, " subordinate officers," which, 
from a natural pride of place, they were not prepared to admit. 

The relations of these boards to the city government, rendered 
the duties of the Mayor, at this juncture, peculiarly diiTicult and 
delicate. This division of executive power among independent 
boards, was evidently incompatible with its efficient exercise and 
with that personal responsibility which the terms of the city 
charter had devolved upon the Mayor, and which the people had 
been led to expect from the individual who might hold that office. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 6X 

It was apparent, also, that unless the powers of these boards were 
either immediately modified or abolished, they would be fixed 
upon the city, with pretensions enlarging with time, until the 
inconvenience resulting from them should become insupportable. 
Yet it was easy to foi-esee that an attempt to abolish institu- 
tions long familiar to the people, and with which they had been 
accustomed to associate the comfort, health, and safety of their 
families and buildings, would expose the officer who should 
recommend such measures to suspicions and calumnies tending 
to affect, if not destroy his influence and popularity. After 
weighing deliberately all the duties and consequences, the Mayor 
decided that no personal considerations ought to have any weight 
in competition with the obvious advantages which must result 
to the city from the removal or modification of boards, behind 
which a weak, a cunning, or indolent executive officer might take 
refuge to hide imbecility or selfishness, or find an apology for 
inefficiency. 

These views of the Mayor were founded on researches and 
observations relative to municipal governments in Em-ope and 
the United States. Either from the terms of then- charters, or 
from a long course of usage and precedents, the powers exercised 
by mayors were chiefly judicial. Their executive powers were 
very limited, being chiefly exercised through the medium of 
boards or of committees ; the mayors being deemed little more 
than presiding or certifying officers, were not held by public opi- 
nion more responsible than other members of the board. The 
power and practical efficiency of this officer consequently degene- 
rated, and the amount of supervision and labor applied to the per- 
formance of his duties depended almost wholly on the disposition 
of the incumbent. As the importance of the office of mayor thus 
diminished, the qualities essential to a vigilant and efficient exer- 
cise of its duties were apt to be disregarded by the community 
in the selection of candidates. In some places, party spirit gave 
the office away to its favorite, looking only to his political faith, 
and not at all to any adaptation of his talents to the fulfilment 
of its duties. In others, ambition made it a stepping-stone. 
Here, charity had bestowed it on a needy, popular favorite, 
honest, but trembling for his bread at every critical exercise of 
his authority. There, some one of the popular classes, into 
which every city becomes divided, had placed the head of the 



62 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

class at the head of the city, with no special regard to qualifica- 
tion. 

To postpone, and if possible, to prevent the occm-rence of such 
a state of indifference to the essential qualities of the executive 
officer in the city of Boston, the Mayor elect deemed it his chief 
official duty to produce and fix in the minds of all the influential 
classes of citizens a strong conviction of the advantage of having 
an active and willingly responsible executive, by an actual expe- 
rience of the benefits of such an administration of their affairs ; 
and also of their right and duty of holding the Mayor responsible, 
in character and office, for the state of the police and finances of 
the city. 

To bring the responsibility of the executive officer into distinct 
relief before the citizens, was accordingly a leading principle, by 
which he endeavoj-ed to regulate his conduct in that office. This 
purpose he avowed, and never ceased to enforce by precept and 
example, during his administration of nearly sLx years. And the 
long continuance of support he received from the citizens, suffi- 
ciently evidenced that his views were in accordance with those 
entertained at that period by a great majority of the inhabitants 
of Boston. 

One of the most urgent duties enjoi^ied on the Mayor, by the 
city charter, was attention to the health, security, and cleanliness 
of the city. Immediately, therefore, after the organization of the 
city government was completed, in May, 1823, the Mayor recom- 
mended to the consideration of the City Council the state of the 
streets, and in what body the care of cleaning them was, or 
ought to be invested, and what powers and authorities are 
requhed to be granted for the purpose of keeping them clean; 
and also the consideration of the measures which ought to be 
taken to put the House of Industry into effectual operation. 

Each of these recommendations were referred to joint commit- 
tees in both branches ; i that in respect of the streets was parti- 
cularly directed to inquire in whom the powers and duties of 
surveyors of highways were invested. 

I That relative to the streets, to the IMayor and Alderman Baxter ; and to 
Messrs. EUphalet Williams, Silsby, Stodder, Bates, and Dexter, of the Common 
Council. 

That relative to the House of Industry, to the IVIayor, Aldermen Odiorne and 
Child ; and to Messrs. Davis, J. K. AVilliams, Baldwin, Jackson, and Lincoln, of 
the Common Council 



CITY GOYERN^IENT. 63 

The relations of several of the independent boards, which 
under the town government had the management of important 
branches of the public service, were left by the city charter, either 
obscurely defined or wholly unprovided for. The embarrassments 
arising from the Surveyors of Highways were the first experi- 
enced, and earliest received attention. 

Under the town organization, the Board of Selectmen had 
fulfilled the duties of the Surveyors of Highways. But the city 
charter had made no special provision for the election of these 
officers. The power of appointing them was only inferred from 
the general authority it gave to the City Council " to elect all 
necessary officers for the good government of the city, not other- 
wise provided for," and under this clause three Surveyors of High- 
ways were chosen in 1822. Inconveniences arose from the nature 
of the office and the extent of its powers, which the citizens had 
been accustomed to have exercised by the whole Board of Select- 
men, and the arrangement by which they were transferred to 
three individuals, dependent on the City Council, was unsatis- 
factory and unpopular. The Mayor and Aldermen were regarded 
as the proper successors to the Selectmen, with respect to these 
powers, but the right of the City Council to confer them on a 
coordinate branch of the government was doubted. During the 
first year of the city, the subject attracted the attention of the 
City Council, and they appointed a committee upon it in Octo- 
ber, 1822. But no effectual action resulted. In the mean time, 
the usual difficulties arising from authorities, intimately affecting 
the rights and properties of citizens, being exercised by so small 
a body, began to be felt. The Surveyors of Highways regarded 
themselves in the light of an independent board. Questions 
immediately arose, concerning the degree of control the Mayor 
and Aldermen had a right to exercise in relation to that Board, 
and the powers intrusted by law to it under the city charter. 

In other respects, the state of the several authorities, relative 
to the highways and streets, were found embarrassing. The 
great objects of municipal attention, — the street and house dirt 
and the night soil, and the modes and rules for their removal, 
had, under the town government, been frequent subjects of ques- 
tion, and even controversy, and early began to appear such under 
that of the city. 

The Surveyors of Highways claimed one species of jurisdic- 



64 IMUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tion over the streets ; the Mayor and Aldermen another ; the 
Board of Health a third. In consequence of the obscmity of the 
limits of the divisions of their powers, there was some difficulty, 
and occasionally something arbitrary in the claims and proceed- 
ings touching their respective jurisdictions. Thus, the canying 
away of the street dirt was admitted to be within the power of 
the Selectmen, and now, of consequence, of the Mayor and Alder- 
men. But of the house dirt, the Board of Health claimed the 
exclusive jurisdiction, and denied to the Selectmen, and also to 
the Mayor and Aldermen, the right of intermeddling on that sub- 
ject. What was house dirt, and what was street dirt, and 
whether yard dirt belonged to either, and to which, began to be 
questions of solemn and dividing import. The first year of the 
city government had witnessed a curious instance of the supe- 
riority claimed by the Board of Health over that of the Mayor 
and Aldermen, and of the conciliatory temper with which the 
latter Board had received and responded to that claim. 

An order was issued by the Board of Health, and duly served 
upon the Mayor and Aldermen in the following words : — 

" To the Honorable Mayor and Aldermen of the City: — 

" Gentlemen, — Complaint has been made at this office that there is col- 
lected in the corner, on the westerly side of the T • and next to the Long Wharf, 
a quantity of filthy, putrid, and nauseous substances on the premises belonging 
to you, or under your direction, and is a nuisance. You will, therefore, appear 
before this Board on Monday, the seventeenth instant, and show cause, if any 
exist, why the City of Boston should not remove the same and cut through said 
T an opening next to the Long Wharf, twenty-four feet wide in the clear, and 
eight feet deep on a level with the lowest part of the flats, on the easterly side of 
said T, for the free passage of the tide waters. 

" By order of the Board of Commissioners of Health. 

" Joiix WixsLOW, Secretary. 

"4 June, 1822." 

This order was read in the Board of Aldermen, and on the 
twenty-fourth of June a report was made "that they do not 
think the city ought to pay any part of the expense, excepting 
that for removing nuisances." This report was accepted, and no 
notice taken either of the nature of the claim of jurisdiction or 
of the manner of enforcing it. 

Similar clashing of authority or of opinion occurred between 
the Surveyors of Highways and the Board of Aldermen, although 

1 A wharf so called. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 65 

not enforced by any like tone and official process. The state of 
uncertainty, in respect of the body, in which both the care of the 
highways and that of cleansing the streets was left by the char- 
ter of the city, led the Mayor, at the commencement of this city 
year, to regard a settlement of those questions as the most im- 
portant and urgent in their nature. With respect to the Sur- 
veyors of Highways, the change proposed could not be effected 
without an appeal to the great body of citizens. A general 
meeting of all the inhabitants, therefore, was called on the 
fifteenth of May, 1823, on the subject of appointing the Board 
of Aldermen surveyors of highways. The change proposed 
readily received their sanction ; and the Legislature of the State, 
on the eleventh of June ensuing, passed an act in conformity 
with the vote of the citizens, and on the eighteenth of the same 
month, the City Council elected the Mayor and Aldermen Sur- 
veyors of Highways. 

In pursuance of this authority, this Board immediately divided 
the city into four districts, each including three wards, and 
appointed two aldermen superintendents of each district, by 
whom the powers thus invested were subsequently exercised 
without question, and to the general satisfaction of the citi- 
zens. 

No subject had been pressed upon the Mayor with more ear- 
nestness, by private citizens, than the state of the streets and the 
importance of adopting systematic plans for effectually removing 
the various accumulations and nuisances in them, which are inci- 
dent to a populous city. Anticipating, however, that the scale 
which it would be necessary to adopt, in order thoroughly to 
effect this object, would lead to a pecuniary expenditure, so far 
exceeding any thing the citizens had experienced under the town 
government, the Mayor had, in his inaugural address, endeavored 
to conciliate their minds, by thus stating the general views he 
entertained on the powers intrusted to the executive authority on 
this subject: — "If the powers vested seem too great, let it be 
remembered that they are necessary to attain the great objects of 
a city, — health, comfort, and safety. To those whose fortunes 
are restricted, these powers ought to be peculiarly precious. The 
rich can fly from the g-enerated pestilence. In the season of dan- 
ger the sons of fortune can seek refuge in purer atmospheres. But 
necessiti/ condemns the poor to remain and inhale the noxious efflu- 
6* 



66 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

via. To all classes tvho reside permanently in a city, these poivers 
are a privilege and a blessing-. In relation to the city police, it 
is not sufficient that the laic, in its due process, iinll ultimately 
remedy every injury and remove every nuisance. While the laiu 
delays, the injury is done. While judges are doubting, and law- 
yers debating, the nuisance is exhaling, and the atmosjyhere cor- 
rupting. In these cases, prevention should be the object of soli- 
citude, not remedy. It is not enough that the obstacle ivhich im- 
pedes the citizen^s way, or the nuisance ivhich offends his sense, 
should be removed on complaint, or by complaint. The true crite- 
rion of an efficient government is, that it should be removed before 
complaint, and ivithout complaint.''^ 

On examining the powers of the city, relative to these subjects, 
the Mayor found that the most important were claimed and exer- 
cised by Commissioners, called the Board of Health. They had 
gi-adually extended their jurisdiction to all subjects, which could, 
by any fair construction, be brought within the terms of the 
legislative acts instituting their authority. In respect of these 
powers, they had acknowledged no subordination to the Select- 
men of the town. Collisions had occasionally arisen between 
them, relative to the removal of nuisances, which had generally 
terminated in favor of the Board of Health ; and they conse- 
quently claimed and exercised, at the time the city government 
was formed, jurisdiction over all subjects which could be compre- 
hended under the terms " causes of sickness, nuisances, and 
sources of filth, injurious to the health of the inhabitants." The 
dirt collecting on the surface of the streets, being considered a 
nuisance, rather in resprict of sight, smell, or convenience, than of 
health, was admitted by those commissioners to be within the 
jurisdiction of the Selectmen. 

By the city charter, the powers and authorities vested by law 
in the Board of Health were transferred to the City Council, " to 
be carried into execution by the appointment of health commis- 
sioners, or in such other manner as the health, cleanliness, com- 
fort, and order of the said city may in their judgment require." 
These commissioners, therefore, now held their places, not as 
formerly, immediately from the people, but by their election by 
the City Council, and the continued existence of that board 
depended on its will. Notwithstanding this change in their 
public relations, these commissioners claimed and exercised as 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 67 

broad and independent a jurisdiction during the first year of the 
city government, as they had done under that of the town. An 
instance of their pretensions has just been noticed.^ 

Soon after the commencement of the second administration 
of the city government, (in 1823,) the Mayor perceived that, so 
long as this state of things continued, he could not exercise that 
general superintendence of this important subject which the 
city charter had made his duty, without troublesome and unpro- 
fitable collisions. His powers of inspection were restricted to 
" subordinate officers ; " a relation which the members of that 
b^ard were not prepared to admit, as applicable to them, so long 
as they acted under the forms and principles which had been 
established by virtue of the several acts forming the ancient 
constitution of that board. In his opinion, there was no de- 
partment of police for which the chief executive officer of a city 
ought to be made more strictly responsible, than for that on 
which the comfort and health of the inhabitants of the city de- 
pended. The existence of an ancient board, accustomed to 
exercise exclusive jurisdiction, and yet claiming a qualified, if 
not an absolute authority over the subject, would render it 
easy for a weak, an indolent, or a cunning executive to evade 
that responsibility, and yet neglect his most imperative official 
duties. 

To prepare the public mind for a new arrangement of these 
powers, the Mayor, on the day of his inauguration, formally 
recommended the subject to the notice of the City Council, as 
already stated ; and a joint committee having been appointed, 
they reported, that " the care of cleaning the surface of the city 
was, by force of the terms of the city charter, vested in the Mayor 
and Aldermen ; but that the docks, night soil, and house dirt was 
considered as belonging to the Board of Health, until the farther 
order of the City Council." In this construction the City Council 
found that the members of that board would acquiesce ; and, 
being desirous to avoid, or, at least to postpone, all questions 
which might create collisions, they confined theu* attention, in the 
first instance, to the sm'face of the city, including its streets, 
courts, and yards. 

From inquiries into the antecedent practice of the town and 

^ See page 64. 



68 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

city, it was ascertained that no general, regular system for cleans- 
ing the streets had ever been adopted or executed. All opera- 
tions had been occasional and local, the result of some particular, 
urgent necessity. Nor was it found that expenses for such an 
object had ever, in one year, exceeded one thousand dollars. 

The Board of Aldermen and Common Council entirely con- 
cun-ing with the views entertained by the Mayor on this subject, 
it was determined at once to incur the expense of a general 
and thorough cleansing of the city. The result, it was antici- 
pated, would so convince the citizens of the benefit, and so habitu- 
ate them to the comfort of the cleanliness of the city, that it would 
be impossible for any executive to be negligent in this respect, 
and long retain his influence and office. To the end that the 
advantage of the proposed operations might be felt by all the 
citizens, it was determined to carry them into effect, in every 
street, alley, com-t, and household yard, however distant, and 
however obscure. 

For this purpose, the city was divided into four districts, each 
composed of three wards; and the Board of Aldermen into 
committees, each composed of two members ; the superintend- 
ence of the cleansing of one district being assigned to each com- 
mittee. For the fu-st time, on any general scale destined for 
universal application, the broom was used upon the streets. On 
seeing this novel spectacle, of files of sweepers, an old and 
common adage was often applied to the new administration of 
city affau-s; in good humor by some, in a sarcastic spirit by 
others. 

In the course of a month, the proposed operation was com- 
pleted, to the very general, if not the universal approbation of the 
citizens. More than three thousand tons of dirt were removed 
from the surface of the city, at a cost of about fourteen hun- 
di-ed dollars ; and in the first month of this administi-ation, nearly 
double the sum was asserted to have been thus expended than 
had ever before been voted, in any one year, to a similar object, 
since the settlement of Boston. The comfort and pride of city 
cleanliness was thus brought home to the door and the feelings 
of every inhabitant, and, for the time, no language was publicly 
heard but that of approbation ; yet, subsequently, this expense 
constituted one clement of clamor, which party spirit did not fail 
to remember, when the charge of extravagance and the teiTors of 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 69 

a city debt were brought to bear upon the popularity of the 
administration. 

The next important question on this subject was, the manner 
in which the streets should be hereafter cleansed. The old prac- 
tice was to depend upon the interests of the farmers in the vici- 
nity, who came when they pleased, took what they pleased, 
in the manner they pleased. The comparative advantage and 
economy of effecting this object by contract, or by teams and 
laborers, provided and employed by the city, became a subject 
of serious debate and deliberation. There were no data on 
which the principles of a contract could be based and safely 
adjusted. Neither the value of the sweepings, as manure, nor 
the quantity which could annually be taken from the surface of 
the city, could be ascertained. To attain the information the 
case required, the Mayor and Aldermen advertised for contracts 
for the work. Among the proposals consequently made, only one 
embraced all the operations of scraping, sweeping, and carrying 
aAvay, and including an offer to do the whole work for seven thou- 
sand dollars. All the other proposals expressly declined having 
any thing to do with scraping and sweeping the streets, and con- 
fined their offer exclusively to carrying the dnt away. The 
lowest of these proposals was eighteen hundred dollars for the 
year. All of them were rejected ; and it was decided that the 
city should perform all the ojjerations by its own teams and 
laborers, and on its own account. This determination being 
known, the same persons fell in their demands, from eighteen to 
eight hundred dollars. This being rejected, they offered to do it 
for 7iothing. Even these proposals were rejected ; the Mayor 
and Aldermen being of opinion that the interest of the city 
required that this work should be done thoroughly, and that the 
cheapest was not the best, or even the most economical mode 
of conducting such operations ; it being, in their judgment, im- 
possible to do it satisfactorily for any length of time by contract. 
All the contractors were farmers in the vicinity, whose object it 
was to' obtain manure for their lands, and whose performance 
would be limited by that interest. Whatever was worthless as 
a manure would be left. During the months of July and August, 
when the health and comfort of the citizens requii-ed that the 
work should be most thoroughly performed, it being the busiest 
season of the year to the farmer, the work in the city would be 
neglected. 



70 MUNICirAL HISTORY. 

There were also other oecasional wants of the city, which 
rendered the possession of teams and laborers of its own highly 
expedient and economical. The Mayor and Aldermen, there- 
fore, resolved to take the care of the streets into their own hands ; 
and, having obtained authority from the City Council, proceeded 
to purchase carts and horses and to hire men, at the cost and on 
the account of the city. 

The expediency of this measure was tested by keeping accu- 
rate accounts, during the two first years, of the work done, the 
expenses incurred, and the incomes obtained; and the experi- 
ment resulted in a perfect conviction, that this was not only the 
most economical, but the only effectual mode, to relieve the 
citizens from the nuisances incident to streets. The responsi- 
bihty was thus devolved upon the Mayor and Aldermen. If any 
cause of complaint occurred, they could not throw the blame oif 
upon contractors. As had been anticipated, great convenience 
and economy resulted from having horses and teams always at 
command, and ready to be applied to any sudden exigency which 
might occur. Exclusive of the first general sweeping, the ex- 
penses of cleaning the streets, alleys, and courts of the city 
amounted, the fu-st year of the experiment, to three thousand 
and eight hundred dollars. After deducting, at the end of the 
year, the value of the teams owned by the city, and also the value 
of the city work done by them, not connected with the streets, 
it was found that twenty-eight hundred tons of manure had been 
collected, and used on the city lands, and at the city farm at the 
House of Industry, the value of which was deemed a full equi- 
valent for the whole cost of the operation. 

On the succeeding year, the cost of this process was about 
six thousand dollars; from the sales of the manure collected 
two thousand dollars were received. Fifteen hundred tons of 
manure, valued at a thousand dollars^ had been sent to the city 
farm at the House of Industry ; and the work done for the city 
by the teams and laborers, exclusive of that on the streets, was 
estimated to be worth two thousand dollars ; and the teams on 
hand at the end of the year were estimated at the value of six 
hundred dollars. From these general estimates, it was evident 
that no general mode of removing street dirt, an operation so 
essential to the health and comfort of the citizens, could possibly 
combine an ecpial degree of convenience and economy; and. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 71 

during the subsequent years of this administration, its expediency 
was never authoritatively questioned.^ 

In all these arrangements, the Mayor and Aldermen had the 
benefit of the practical skill and business talents of Enoch Pat- 
terson and Caleb Eddy, members of the Board of Aldermen, to 
whose intelligence, activity, and judgment the city of Boston is 
greatly indebted for the degree of success which, in the course 
of this and the ensuing year, was attained in this and other 
branches of the police services of the city. 

The experience of this year of the city government had satis- 
fied the Mayor and City Council that the whole subject, relative 
to filth and nuisances affecting the comfort and health of the 
citizens, ought to be taken under their direct control, and could 
be better managed by a single health commissioner than by an 
independent board. The satisfactory result of the measures 
adopted in relation to cleaning the surface of the city, led to the 
determination that the remaining objects, such as the docks, 
night soil, and house dirt, should be placed under like control. 
To prepare the way for this change, a Committee of the City 
Council, of which the Mayor was chau-man, made a report early 
in February, 1824, — that the Board of Health, in executing the 
arrangements relative to the internal health regulations, had 
effected the same by contract, and paid that year nearly three 
thousand dollars for these objects ; that in respect of house dirt 
the contractors were often remiss ; that recurrence to the penalty, 
although it might punish them, did not effect the chief object in 
this concern, — the certain convenience of the citizens. Living 
in the country, they came in heavy ox wagons ; were a long 



1 1st. The work is done thoroughly and satisfactorily to every inhabitant, iu 
every lane, alley, and court. 2d. It is done responsibly. If it is not so done, the 
blame falls where it ought to fall, on the Mayor and Aldermen ; they cannot 
throw it off on contractors. 3d. There is great convenience, and often great 
economy, in having teams and horses at command. The- amount of this con- 
venience is great, but difficult to estimate. To the Executive Board, practically 
speaking, the trouble is nothing in comparison with the gratification they derive, 
from seeing the streets cleansed of all ofiensive substances, and a population satis- 
fied with its condition in this respect. 

On the 10th of April, 1826, an ordinance was passed by the i^ity Council, 
prohibiting the removal through the streets, &c. of Boston any house dirt, house 
oifal, or refuse substance, animal or vegetable, unless licensed by the Mayor and 
Aldermen, on such conditions as they should prescribe. This was unaccount- 
ably omitted to be published among the ordinances in the edition of 1«27, but 
was inserted iu subsequent editions of those ordinances. 



72 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

time in loading; and the collections being dragged slowly along 
the streets, became in the summer season a gi-eat nuisance ; that 
the contractors, being farmers, were negligent during the summer 
months. Besides, being only interested in carrying away the 
substances which, by thek usefulness, would compensate them 
for the transportation, they often left articles cumbersome, and 
often noxious to the citizens. The substances carried away 
were aclcnowledged by the contractors to be worth, as a food for 
swine, two thousand dollars, and probably, in fact, were of far 
greater value. 

The Committee recommended that the city should undertake 
the removal of it on its own account, as they had done in the 
case of street dirt. 

Because, being removed in wagons with horses, they would 
pass the streets more expeditiously, and being well covered, and 
the men employed being directly and constantly responsible to 
the Commissioner of Health, the inconvenience to the citizens 
would be less, and exactness would be more easily effected ; and, 
if carried to the House of Industry at South Boston, would 
relieve the city from a great part of the expense ; the superin- 
tendent of the House of Industry being of opinion that, if ap- 
plied to the keeping of hogs, the profit on the pork would pay 
for the transportation, and leave the manure a clear gain to the 
city. 

The Committee then entered into calculations, showing the 
feasibility, the economy, and the far greater convenience and 
comfort to the citizens, than the old mode of effecting the same 
object, by means of contracts with farmers. 

Similar views were expressed in relation to the night soil and 
its removal. This could not well be effected by teams employed 
by the city. It was unavoidable that the work should be done 
through the agency of farmers in the vicinity. But the rules 
adopted, concerning the mode of conducting these operations, 
the time when the teams should enter and leave the city, the 
neatness, the silence, and the care with which the work should 
be performed, — were all circumstances deeply affecting the health 
and comfort of the citizens, and, perhaps more than any other, 
ought to be made to rest upon the responsibility of the Mayor 
and Executive Board. 

In consequence of these views and recommendations, the old 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 73 

mode of managing the coneerns of the health department, by 
the means of a board of commissioners, was abandoned. That 
board was discontinued. An ordinance was past by the City 
Council, on the thirty-first of May, 1824, placing the internal 
police of the cit^ under the superintendence of the City Marshal ; 
the external police, under that of a Commissioner of Health ; and 
that relative to the interment of the dead, under an officer, de- 
nominated the Superintendent of the Burial Grounds. 

The advantages resulting from these changes became soon 
apparent, and were acknowledged by the citizens. New con- 
tracts on the subject of night soil were made; gi-eater exact- 
ness and more regularity in their fulfilment were requh-ed, and 
in case of failure or neglect, rigorously enforced ; in some, even 
to the forfeiture of the contractors' obligations, after very con- 
siderable expenditures already incurred by them, for performance 
of the work during a term of long continuance. 

The measures for removing house and street dirt, by means of 
city teams, were not less satisfactory. In the hottest seasons of 
the year, the convenience of the citizens was no longer sub- 
jected to the interest or caprice of the farmers. Every subject 
of complaint became the object of the immediate attention of 
the responsible officer. And when the heat, or any particular 
urgency, called for additional teams, they were without delay 
applied to the objects. In reply to a letter making inquiries con- 
cerning the result, by one of the city authorities of Philadelphia, 
the Mayor of Boston thus WTote, on the twentieth of July, 1825 : 
" So well regulated are our city teams and operations, that, not- 
withstanding the excessive heat of the last week, the whole 
number of complaints of neglect in carrying away the house- 
hold dirt, in the whole city, for that week, was but four. I do 
not believe it is possible for any city of equal population to cany 
into effect this species of cleaning at a less expense, or more 
thoroughly, or to more general satisfaction." 



CHAPTER VI. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuixcY, Mayor. 

Inconvenient State of Faneuil Hall Market — Difficulties attending its Exten- 
sion — Measures taken for surmounting tlaem — Invitation to the Proprietors 
of the Land in the Vicinity to become Associates in the Improvement — 
Not accepted by them — The Project approved by the Citizens in a General 
Meeting — Authority obtained from the Legislature — Purchase of the Estates 
commenced. 

The enlargement of the market under and in the vicinity of 
Faneuil Hall was one of the first objects to which the attention 
of the second administration of the city government was di- 
rected. The labors and responsibilities the Mayor, Aldermen, and 
Common Council incurred in accomplishing this great improve- 
ment, the extent of their operations, and the extraordinary 
financial results, are probably without a parallel in the history 
of any other city. A granite market house, two stories high, 
five hundred and thirty-five feet long, fifty feet wide, covering 
twenty-seven thousand feet of land, including every essential 
accommodation, was erected, at the cost of one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. Six new streets were opened, and a 
seventh greatly enlarged, including one hundred and sixty-seven 
thousand square feet of land ; and flats, docks, and wharf 
rights obtained, of the extent of one hundred and forty-two 
thousand square feet. All this was accomplished in the centre 
of a pojiulous city, not only without any tax, debt, or burden 
upon its pecuniary resources, — notwithstanding, in the course of 
the operations, funds to the amount of upwards of eleven hun- 
di-ed thousand dollars had been employed, — but with large per- 
manent additions to its real and productive property. The pro- 
prietors of land in the north section of the city were also enabled 
by this improvement to open Fulton and Commercial Streets, 
thus greatly enlarging mercantile accommodations, facilitating 
intercourse with the gi-eat southern wharves, and creating oppor- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 75 

tunities for the foundation of those noble blocks of granite stores, 
which have since been erected to the eastward of those streets. 

It is due to the men who constituted the city councils at that 
day, whose intelligence devised, and whose energy effected these 
great results, and also to the spirit of the citizens, whose votes 
sustained and encouraged them, through good report and evil 
report, that the difficulties with which they had to struggle, and 
the course of measures by which they were surmounted and 
success ultimately obtained, should be permanently recorded, as 
an honor to the past and an example to the future. 

At the commencement of the second city year, the whole 
space occupied by stalls in Faneuil Hall market did not exceed 
fourteen thousand square feet. Even the best of these were 
inconvenient, and the passages to them obstructed. The dealers 
in fish and vegetables occupied a wooden shed, without glass 
windows, and without doors. Then- consequent exposure to the 
inclemency of the winter storms caused premature sickness and 
death. It was calculated that twenty years changed the whole 
number of the individuals there employed. The space around 
Faneuil Hall, devoted to the market, was broken, in its centre, 
by Odin's Buildings, as they were then called, and was bounded 
to the eastward by the Roebuck Passage and the Town Dock. 
The central common sewer of the city opened into the head of 
this dock, which was also a station for oyster boats, and became 
consequently a receptacle for every species of filth, and a public 
nuisance. All the buildings on the north side of the Town 
Dock were old, and for the most part inhabited by a very ti-ou- 
blesome and irregular population. It was impossible to intro- 
duce order and systematic arrangement into a market so ex- 
tremely deficient in local accommodation. The avenues leading 
to it were in general narrow and crooked, especially the Roebuck 
Passage, the shortest and most frequented thoroughfare, between 
the northern section of the city and this central market and the 
wharves in the middle and southern sections. In a distance of one 
hundred feet it had three bends, and its width varied from thirteen 
to twenty feet. Serious accidents had occurred wdthin this incon- 
venient passage. One child had recently been killed, another had 
been mutilated, and almost every year petitions had been pre- 
sented to the town authorities for its enlargement, but without 
effect. On high market days, Union, Elm, Brattle, Washington, 



76 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

and Exchange Steets were often completely obstructed. Farmers 
coming from a great distance in the country, were compelled to 
take their stand along Union Street, as far as INIarshall's Lane, 
and in Washington Street, as far as Court Sti-eet. They were 
thus excluded from the space around Faneuil Hall, where then- 
customers chiefly resorted, and were often obliged to sell their 
^ goods to forestallers, gi-eatly to then- loss and discontent. Fore- 
stalling became, consequently, not only a lucrative but an 
acknowledged employment. Individuals engaged in it, when 
prosecuted, were seldom convicted by juries, since, from the 
many obsti-uctions, arising from the local inadequacy of the 
market, to all fair competition, forestalling seemed to be indis- 
pensable for the interests both of the farmer and the citizens. 
Such were the general relations and accommodations of the 
central market of the city, at the commencement of the second 
administi'ation ; and the Mayor, in the first month after his 
inauguration, having consulted with the Board of Aldermen, 
decided that the exertions of the city government would be most 
usefully directed to ameliorate its condition. The general and 
financial prosperity of the city were favorable to the midertaking. 
The support of the proprietors of the Long Wharf, and of the 
inhabitants of the northern parts of the city, were confidently 
anticipated, since the value of their estates would be enhanced 
should the project succeed, by the formation of new streets and 
more commodious water rights, and by the opening of the Roe- 
buck Passage. 

These powerful interests and propitious circumstances induced 
the Mayor immediately to refer the subject of the improvement 
of the central market to a committee of both branches of the 
City Council, of v/hich he was chairman. But, so little was the 
public mind prepared for the extensive plan contemplated, that 
this Committee could only be induced to assent to a report for 
the erection of a large vegetable market, thirty-six feet wide, 
one hundred and eighty feet long, on the north side of Faneuil 
HaU, which, on the twenty-fifth of June, was accepted in both 
branches, and fifteen thousand dollars were appropriated for its 
completion. Those who concurred in the original project were 
not discouraged by the opposition thus evinced, and, while the 
report was in discussion, the Mayor took measures, personally, 
to ascertain the prices at which the estates comprehended within 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 77 

the plan first conceived could be obtained. Some of the princi- 
pal proprietors refused to sell their estates at any price, and the 
demands of others were extravagant. But it was evidently for 
the interest of them all that the plan contemplated should suc- 
ceed, and not be defeated, or postponed, by the erection of the 
vegetable market. No obstruction was therefore made to the 
acceptance of that report ; but it was used as an argument, to 
influence those proprietors to be more moderate in their demands. 
The pohcy had the effect anticipated. The appropriation was 
therefore left untouched and uncalled for ; and, on the thirty -first 
of July, 1823, the Mayor communicated to the City Council his 
views concerning the improvement contemplated, by a special 
message, stating the inconveniences of the existing market; the 
relief which enlarged accommodation and consequent competi- 
tion would confer, by reduced prices of provisions, on the poorer 
classes ; the cu-cumstances favorable to advantageous pm-chases ; 
and the necessity of obtaining a power to borrow the sums 
requisite for the object. The appointment of a committee to 
take the subject into consideration was recommended, and the 
Mayor, Aldermen Benjamin and Patterson, and Messrs. E. Wil- 
liams, Stoddard, Silsby, and Winslow, of the Common Council, 
were appointed. 

It was now thought advisable to postpone further proceedings, 
until the final terms of the proprietors of the land embraced 
within the proposed sphere of improvement should be ascer- 
tained, and such conditional contracts fi'om them be obtained, 
as should prevent any one of them falling back from his engage- 
ments, after the city should determine to proceed with the pro- 
ject. The Mayor charged himself with this undertaldng; and, 
during the months of August, September, October, and Novem- 
ber, he was occupied, dming his leisure from other duties, in 
obtaining plans, forming an acquaintance with the interests, and 
negotiating with the proprietors. The original scheme embraced 
all the land between Ann Street and the Mill Creek on the one 
side, and Butler's Row on the other, limited on the west by the 
estates on the eastern side of the Roebuck Passage and of 
Merchants' Row, and extending as far to the east as the flats 
might reach, which the city, by purchasing the proposed estates 
in the progress of the improvement, might be able to attain. 
It was found that, as valued by the proprietors, eight hundi-ed 



78 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

thousand dollars was the lowest sum for which the whole of 
that property could be obtained. As the advantages of so ex- 
tensive an improvement were difficult to be made apparent to 
the citizens in general, among whom there was an instinctive 
and prevailing dread of a citydebt, the Committee postponed 
the attempt to carry into effect their original project, and for the 
present, apparently restricted their operations to the space be- 
tween Ann Street and the street leading to Bray's Wharf, which 
included about thirty estates, owned by about an equal num- 
ber of proprietors, and comprising, according to the estimates 
then made, about one hundred and twenty-seven thousand square 
feet of gi-ound, inclusive of the docks and passage-ways, and 
exclusive of the flats in front of the wharves. With t^vo or 
three exceptions, all the proprietors demanded prices at that time 
generally deemed extravagant, but which, in the opinion of the 
Committee, the city might well afford to give, provided it could 
be made certain of ultimately attaining a title to the whole 
space. To prevent the scheme being defeated, after the purchase 
of some estates, by the selfishness and caprice of the owners of 
the residue, a plan was taken, comprising a general outline of 
the streets and stores in the contemplated improvement, which 
at that time it was thought expedient to propose. Estimates hav- 
ing been made, and confidential persons of great practical know- 
ledge having been consulted, the Committee were convinced that 
an important enlargement of the mai'ket might be effected with- 
out injuriously increasing the debt or affecting the credit of the 
city. The Mayor, therefore, proceeded to obtain ccMulitional con- 
tracts from the several proprietors, by force of which each bound 
' himself, on the payment of a specified sum by the city of Boston, 
on or before the first of INIay then ensuing, to convey his land to 
the city, with full title and warranty. These negotiations were 
unavoidably attended with gi-eat and peculiar difficulties. Each 
conti-act was made separately, often under mutual pledges of 
secrecy; the proprietors often considering the price they de- 
manded as extravagant, and fearing their estimates might be 
assumed as a basis of taxation by the assessors. After reducing 
the price of each estate to its minimum, the Mayor took the 
contract, deeming it essential to success that, after the plan was 
made public, no proprietor should be able to avail himself of the 
advantage of a knowledge of the effect of the improvement on 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 79 

his particular estate, or of its special importance to the general 
design. 

By the middle of December, a conditional purchase was 
effected of almost all the land requu-ed. The contracts signed 
included five sixths of the estates, and amounted to nearly four 
hundred thousand dollars. The remaining land, it was estimated, 
mieht be obtained for less than one hundred thousand dollars. 
It chiefly belonged to minors, whose trustees or guardians pro- 
mised to cooperate with the city government, in obtaining author- 
ity to sell and invest their title in the city at a fah price. 

The most extensive plan the Committee of the City Council 
dared, at that time, to propose, embraced only the space between 
the street leading to Bray's Wharf and Ann Street, bounding 
westerly on a line running in the direction of the eastern side of 
Merchants' Row, four hundred and twenty feet. The distance 
to which the parallelogram, of which this hne was the base, 
should extend, easterly, was limited to the east end of Codman's 
Wharf. 

Feet. 
The space between these lines it was proposed to divide 

into two ranges of store-lots, each 55 feet wide, . .110 
One range for a market house, 50 feet wide, the centre of 

which was to coincide with the centre of Faneuil Hall, . 50 
And two streets, 80 feet wide, on each side of the pi-oposed 

market house, . . . . . . . .160 

And two streets on the outside of each range of stores, 

each being 50 feet, 100 

420 

The subsequent great extension to the eastward, and also that 
included in the space southward to Butler's Row, and the inter- 
mediate estates, according to the original project, were not then 
by any one deemed possible. Even this plan, so limited in com- 
parison with the one ultimately effected, was condemned, in 
public and private, as far beyond the resom-ces of the city. 

The titles to all the estates in the above space were now in- 
vested in, or secured for, the city, with the exception of three fom*- 
reenth parts of the estate belonging to the heirs of Nathan Spear, 
which the proprietors refused to dispose of on any terms. This 
estate lay, as the annexed plan will show, in the centre of the 
space required for the proposed improvement ; and it was not pos- 



80 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

siblc to place the centre of the market house in coincidence with 
the centre of Fanenil Hall, without crossing that estate, almost in 
its Avhole length ; and there being some legal questions, applica- 
ble to taking lands for a market, which did not apply to taking 
lands for streets, it was deemed advisable by the City Council to 
place the market house as far as possible beyond the sphere of the 
Spear estate. The plan of placing its centre opposite the centre 
of FaneuU Hall was therefore abandoned, and it was resolved 
that the northern line of the two edifices should be made coinci- 
dent ; a circumstance often mentioned with regret, as a mistake, 
by those who are ignorant of the obstacles which rendered the 
present relative position of the market house expedient. After 
having entered into contracts, or other satisfactory engage- 
ments with all the adult proprietors, whose lands were essential 
to success, with the above exceptions, and obtained elevations, 
ground plans, and estimates of a market house and the proposed 
adjacent stores, on the eighth of December, 1823, the Mayor 
called together the Committee. Great diversity of opinion was 
evinced at this meeting ; and, after long deliberation, the fear of 
involving the city in debt prevailed, and it was unanimously 
agreed, in the fii'st place, to attempt to associate the proprietors 
of the land in the project, to be effected at common risk and 
profit. Should this offer be declined, it would be apparent that 
the improvement must be executed, if at all, by the energy and 
resources, exclusively, of the city ; a circumstance which, it was 
hoped, would unavoidably produce unanimity among the citi- 
zens. With these views, the Mayor, as Chairman of the Com- 
mittee, made a report of the above date, in which the importance 
and necessity of the undertaking are stated ; the plan and eleva- 
tions communicated ; the impracticability of uniting the opinions 
of the citizens in favor of purchases to so great an amount, with- 
out a previous exposition, asserted ; the impossibility of making 
those purchases on its account, after such development, intimat- 
ed ; and, after declaring the opinion that a full exposition of their 
plan should be made to the public, proposed to invite the proprie- 
tors to become interested in the project, in the proportion of their 
existing rights ; to state what the city would give, in addition to 
its right in the dock and streets, for the land reserved for streets 
and a market. Their report concludes with recommending an 
order, to be passed by the City Council, authorizing a joint 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 81 

committee of that body to enter into a negotiation with the 
proprietors of the land adjoining the market, and with other 
citizens, to unite witii the City Council in one general plan of 
improvement in that vicinity, on terms specified in the order. 

That order was passed by the City Council on the eighth of 
December, 1823 ; and a committee, consisting of the iNIayor, 
and Messrs. Child, Benjamin, and Patterson, of the Board of 
Aldermen, and Messrs. Dexter, Silsby, E. WiUiams, Brooks, 
Russell, Winslow, and Tappan, of the Common Comicil, were 
accordingly appointed. 

On the tenth of that month the Committee prepared and trans- 
mitted to the several proprietors of land three propositions, con- 
formable to the authority given by the City Council. By the 
first, they were invited to combine and throw their estates into a 
common stock wdth the estates belonging to the city, the whole 
to be appraised at their real value by commissioners mutually to 
be chosen, who were to be authorized to lay out the estates on a 
plan specified, and to divide the whole interest into shares, in 
proportions conformed to the appraisement, and to make sales 
for the best interests of the concern, the city to be considered as 
a proprietor for the amount of its estates, but streets and lanes, 
given or taken, not to be considered in any estimate. The same 
Commissioners to be authorized to appraise the land reserved for 
a market, and to decide what the city should pay to the general 
concern for that interest, considering all circumstances. This 
sum was to be divided between the proprietors, like the proceeds 
of the sales, according to their respective shares. The second 
proposition requested the proprietor, who dissented from the pre- 
ceding, to state his willingness to sell his land at an appraisement 
to be made by five or seven disinterested persons, mutually chosen ; 
the city declaring its willingness to consent to such appraise- 
ment, upon the single condition that the result should only be 
obligatory in case of the ultimate success of the general project. 
The third proposition invited any proprietor, who declined con- 
curring in either of the preceding propositions, to transmit to the 
Mayor the terms on which he would be wiUing to sell his land 
to the city, with the assm'ance on the part of the city, that either 
they wUl be accepted, or a counter-proposition made on its part, 
limited only by the single condition expressed in the second pro- 
position. The proprietors were requested to give an answer 



82 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

within ten days, and the opinion and earnest wish of the city 
authorities were expressed, that the whole arrangement might 
result in uniting the accommodation of the city with the advance- 
ment of the interests of the proprietors. 

These various propositions were submitted to the proprietors 
with a view to test their dispositions and to foreclose any future 
complaints against those measures, to which it might become 
necessary for the city finally to resort. The prejudices and inte- 
rest hostile to the prosecution of the improvement by the funds 
of the city, rendered it expedient to evidence a disposition to 
admit private citizens into a share in the concern, and particu- 
larly the proprietors of the land, should such a disposition be met 
by a corresponding disposition in any of those individuals, they 
might be considered and accepted, or rejected, according to thek 
natm-e. Should no such corresponding disposition appear, then 
the city authorities would be justified in proceeding on the basis 
of the city funds and powers, as being obviously the only remain- 
ing mode of effecting the improvement. 

No proposition was received from any one, on the basis of 
throwing the estates into a common stock ; nor any upon that 
of selling estates to the city by appraisement. Several of the 
proprietors, however, expressed then- willingness to sell, but the 
prices demanded by some were deemed exorbitant, and two 
or three of them refused absolutely to sell at any rate, declaring 
that they had interests in other parts of the city, which they 
apprehended would be injm'iously affected by the proposed alter- 
ations in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall, and that they would enter 
into no negotiation, nor make any offer upon the subject. 

The Committee, therefore, reported on the twenty-ninth of 
December, 1823, that the prices demanded by the owners of 
estates in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall Market were generally 
such as to render it inexpedient to proceed further in an attempt 
to negotiate, and recommended resolutions, which were adopted 
by the City Council, appointing a committee to apply to the 
State Legislature for " such an extension of the powers of Sur- 
" veyors of Highways, as may enable the city to become possessed 
of such estates in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall Market as the said 
Surveyors may deem it expedient for the city to possess for the 
' public use, under such limitations, restrictions, and provisions, as 
the constitution enjoins, and as regard for the interests of the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 83 

public, and respect for the rights of individuals shall dictate. 
Resolutions to this effect were passed in both branches of the 
City Council, and the same Committee were authorized to apply- 
to the Legislature for such powers. 

On the twelfth of the ensuing January, the Committee so 
appointed made a report, and submitted to the City Council the 
draft of a memorial to the Legislature, recommending, however, 
that previously to thus applying to the Legislature, the whole 
subject should be laid before the inhabitants of the city for their 
sanction. 

This recommendation was made in consideration of the great- 
ness of the effect of this contemplated project on the relations of 
real property in all that circle of territory, from the Town Dock by 
the head of Ann Street, and the Mill Creek to Exchange Wharf; 
the whole of which would be, it was apparent, advantageously 
affected by the improvement. As the powers about to be asked 
of the Legislature, though the same in nature with the ordinary 
powers of surveyors of highways, were yet much more extensive 
in degree, and would have a direct action upon private rights, 
and as loans to a considerable amount would be requisite, in 
case the improvement was authorized, it seemed expedient, con- 
sidering the gi-eat range of these relations, that the real senti- 
ments of the citizens should be formally and satisfactorily ascer- 
tained. 

The project had thus far appeared to be received with very 
general approbation ; but it was thought that if the result of the 
proposed appeal to the citizens, in general meeting, should show 
that they really entertained such views of then* own interest, 
great encouragement and support would be given to the City 
Council in their future measures. Should, however, the result 
indicate that the general opinion was opposed to the contem- 
plated improvement, it was desirable that the fact should be 
known before proceeding farther on the subject. 

These views of the Committee were approved by the City 
Council, and at a general and very full meeting of the inhabit- 
ants, on the sixteenth of January, 1824, the following questions 
were submitted to them. 1st. Is it expedient that Faneuil Hall 
Market should be extended towards the Harbor, between Ann 
Street and the street leading to Bray's Wharf, in such direction 
as the City Council, upon a view of all the circumstances of that 



84 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

vicinity, shall deem most for the public interest ; and that the 
City Council be requested to cause the same to be effected 
accordingly ? 2d. Is it expedient for the City Council to apply 
to the Legislatin-e for such an extension of the powers of the 
] Sm-veyors of Highways, as the cu'cumstances of the contempla- 
. ted project above-memtioned may make necessary, under such ' 
limitations and restrictions as the constitution requires, and as 
respect for private rights may dictate ? 

At this meeting the subject was debated with 'j^^armth, and 
opposed by several citizens of wealth, talent, and eloquence. In 
its support, the Mayor stated the views entertained by the City 
Council, produced a plan of the general improvement contem- 
plated, embracing a ground view and an elevation of the pro- 
posed stores and market house ; — the former extending no fm-ther 
than to the easterly end of Codman's Wharf, being only four 
hundred and fifty feet in length, and not passing in an easterly 
direction beyond the ancient southwesterly hne of the dock, and 
was limited to the space between the lane leading to Bray's 
Wharf and Ann Street, having the market house fifty feet wide, 
with a sLxty-five feet street on its north side and a sixty feet 
street on its south side. The market house was proposed to be 
only one story in height, of wood, open on all sides, supported 
by a double row of pillars, like the market houses in Philadelphia, 
and bearing no comparison with the plan which was subsequently 
executed. It was, however, opposed as being impracticable, 
from its extent and expense, and was topprobriously denominated 
"the mammoth project of the Mayor." It was denounced as 
laying the foundation of a city debt, "which neither the present 
inhabitants of Boston, nor their posterity, would be able to pay." 
It was said that schemes of this kind had better be left to the 
I enterprise of individuals, who do them better and cheaper than 
' corporations. It was denied that a great market was wanted. 
To these and other arguments adduced in opposition to the 
project, a very few plain statements were opposed, explaining its 
necessity, feasibility, and expediency, and showing that it would 
probably create the means for indemnifying the city for the 
expenses which its prosecution would occasion. These general 
considerations, aided by the strong conviction which the embar- 
rassed and inconvenient state of the existing market had im- 
pressed on the minds of the citizens in general, seconded by the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 85 

strong desire prevalent throughout the whole northern section of 
the city for the widening of the Roebuck Passage, and above all, 
the certainty that this improvement, from its locality, would, if 
carried into effect, result in producing important changes, favor- 
able to the value of real estate in that division of the city, caused 
the arguments in favor of the project to have a weight and influ- 
ence which neither the talents, nor the respectability of those 
who resisted the proposition, could successfully counteract. Both 
questions were carried in the affirmative by great majorities, and 
as was asserted at the time, by at least three to one.i 

In conformity with this expression of the public opinion, a full 
memorial, stating the advantages resulting to the country and the 
city from the proposed project, was presented to the Legislature, 
and on the twenty-first of February, 1824, an act was passed 
" authorizing the extension of Faneuil Hall Market in Boston." 
The principles of that act were contested, both before the Legis- 
lative Committee and in the Legislature itself. At one period 
the chance of success seemed so dubious, that the Mayor pre- 
pared, on his own responsibility, a short pamphlet, and caused it 
to be distributed to the members of the Legislature, elucidating, 
very briefly, the questions in controversy. It however finally 
passed in both branches, with no inconsiderable majorities. 

On the first of March, the Committee on the extension of 
Faneuil Hall Market reported to the City Council the act they 
had obtained from the Legislature, and suggested the course of 
proceedings which they now deemed it proper for the City Coun- 
cil to adopt, in the form of distinct resolutions, which were 
accordingly passed by the City Council on that day. By the 
fii-st of these resolutions, the conditions of the act of the Legisla- 
ture, on which the powers granted depended, were complied with 
by the formal declaration of the City Council, " that the public 
exigencies required that the limits of Faneuil Hall Market should 
be extended " between Ann Street on the north, a fine drawn 
from the east end of Faneuil Hall on the west, the south side of 
Faneuil Hall and the lane leading to Bray's Wharf on the south, 
and the harbor on the east. By the second, the direction in 
which the market should be extended, was referred for future 
consideration. By the thii'd, a joint committee was appointed 

1 Columbian Centmel, 17th January, 1824. ■. V 



86 MUmCIPAL HISTORY. 

to consider whether the land requisite for the improvement should 
be acquired by purchase or by virtue of the powers gi-anted by the 
Legislature ; and, in the latter case, to report the particular direc- 
tion in which the extension should be effected. Should the mode 
of purchase be selected by the Committee, they were then author- 
ized to proceed to make the purchases, three fom-ths of the Com- 
mittee concurring in such purchase, and signing a vote to that 
effect ; their powers of purchasing being limited to the sum of 
five hundred thousand dollars. This sum was inserted in the 
Common Council, by a majority of only one, (yeas 19, nays 18.) 
By the fourth, the Committee were authorized to borrow, at five 
per cent., for the payment for the estates purchased, a like pro- 
portion of the- Committee being reqviired to sanction in writing 
the terms of any loan. By the fifth, the Mayor and Treasurer 
were empowered to sign and countersign certificates of such 
loans ; the joint Committee who reported the resolutions being 
authorized to carry them into effect. 

This Committee, consisting of the Mayor and Messrs. Child, 
Patterson, and Benjamin of the Board of Aldermen, and ]\Iessrs. 
Dexter, Silsby, E. Williams, Brooks, Russell, Winslow, and 
Tappan of the Common Council, had its first meeting on the 
sixteenth of March, 1824, and gave a general authority to the 
Mayor to purchase three of the principal estates (Codman's, 
Wheaton's, and Miller's) at rates below what those proprietors 
had previously demanded. 

On the twenty-sLxth, the Mayor reported the rejection by those 
proprietors of the offer made by the Committee. The proceed- 
ings were then postponed, and the Mayor was authorized to pro- 
ceed in the negotiation at his discretion, subject to the approval 
of the Committee. 

At this period, great difficulties appeared in the way of the 
project. Two of the Committee declared themselves decidedly 
opposed to proceeding on the scale contemplated, and presented 
calculations to show that the project would result in a debt of 
at least five hundred thousand dollars. These were met by 
counter calculations, which were satisfactory to the other mem- 
bers of the Committee ; and as on the first of May, the conditional 
contracts obtained by the Mayor of the several proprietors would 
terminate, a decisive course of measures now became necessary. 
On the ninth of April, therefore, the Committee authorized the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 87 

Mayor to purchase the estates at the prices at which any of the 
proprietors were under contract to sell. This authority that 
officer immediately proceeded to execute, and from this time the 
operations, with reference to this improvement, were efficiently 
commenced ; a debt of more than forty-eight thousand dollars 
was now contracted, nearly twenty thousand feet of land, besides ) 
wharf rights secured, and a general authority further to negotiate 
having been vested in the Faneuil Hall Committee, the City 
Council closed its labors on this subject for the second year of 
the city. 



CHAPTER VIl. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Proceedings relative to the House of Industry — Opposition of the Overseers of 
the Poor to the Removal of the Inmates of the Almshouse — A House of Cor- 
rection erected at South Boston — Attempts to Conciliate the Overseers of 
the Poor — Its Effects — Liberty to use the Cellars of a Church for Burial 
denied — Department of Police. 

At the commencement of the second administration of the 
city in May, 1823, it had become apparent that the House of 
Industry was destined to sustain an unqualified opposition from 
the Overseers of the Poor, and a decided support from a major- 
ity of the City Council. 

When the Committee for erecting the House of Industry, 
under the town government, first visited the Almshouse in 
Leverett Street, in April, 1821, they were convinced that the 
edifice and the land round it were wholly inadequate to the pre- 
sent and future exigencies of the community. These facts were 
admitted by the Overseers of the Poor themselves, and also by 
the Superintendent of the Almshouse. AU the particulars of its 
want of adaptation to moral effect and discipline cannot here 
be stated. The Committee, therefore, after obtaining authority 
and appropriations, purchased, as already stated,^ sixty-three 
acres of land at South Boston, and erected the House of Indus- 
try, with accommodations to effect a complete separation of the 
sexes, with every aiTangement for the comfort, health, and em- 
ployment of the respectable classes of the poor, and with distinct 
apartments for the insane. And they anticipated that the sale 
of the house and land in Leverett Street would probably indem- 
nify the town for this expenditure at South Boston. 

These arrangements of the Committee of the House of Indus- 

1 See eh. iii. p. 38. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 89 

try received the sanction of the inhabitants at the last town 
meeting ever held in Boston. And their opinions and views 
were confirmed by the Report of the Committee of the first City 
Council, of which the Mayor, John Phillips, was Chairman.^ 
But to the Overseers of the Poor this whole plan was obnoxious. 
They did not estimate the estate in Leverett Street at so high a 
value as the Committee, and although they acknowledged the 
inadequacy of the Almshouse, its location near the centre of 
business facilitated the performance of their duties, and they did 
not regard inconveniences to which they had been long inured 
with the same feelings of disapprobation as did those to whom 
they were new. They sympathized in the prejudices of the 
more respectable inmates in favor of the present location, and 
were unwilling to deprive them of the humble comforts and 
pleasures obtained, by permission, once a week to stroll about 
the streets and visit the families and receive the charities of their 
former friends. 

These, and perhaps other motives of a less distinct character, 
led to a com-se of opposition, which, during the first year of the 
city government, prevented the House of Industry from going 
into operation, and occasioned also a long series of embarrass- 
ments to the second administration. On the first of May, 1823, 
when the Chairman of the Committee of the House of Industry 
was inaugurated Mayor of the city, he recommended to the City 
Council to take early measm'es to carry that institution into 
effect, and a joint committee ^ was raised on the subject, of 
which he was appointed Chau'man. On the twelfth of May, the 
Committee reported that it was expedient to put the House of 
Industry into operation as soon as possible ; and eight thousand 
dollars were immediately appropriated towards its completion. 

This report was based upon a statement annexed to it, repre- 
senting the advantages of supporting the poor on an extent of 
land sufficient to enable them to raise at least their own provi- 
sions, and on the total inadequacy of the Almshouse in Leverett 
Street to the objects of such an institution, since its restricted 
limits gave its inmates a pretext to obtain leave to wander 
about the city every week, where some of them found means to 
gratify their propensity to intoxication, to beg, or to steal, of 

1 See ch. iv. p. 51. 2 See cb. v. p. 62. 



90 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

which the records of the Municipal Court contained melancholy 
evidence. 

On the nineteenth of May, in conformity with the act of the 
Legislature, authorizing the City Council to appoint the Direct- 
ors of the House of Industry, the first Board ^ was chosen, who 
proceeded forthwith to complete the arrangements for that insti- 
tution. ■ And on the twenty-eighth of July, the Directors gave 
notice that the House of Industry was prepared to receive the 
inmates of the Leverett Street Almshouse. For the adoption 
of measures to remove a part of them to South Boston, a joint 
committee of the City Council,^ was appointed to meet the 
Board of Overseers of the Poor. After several interviews it 
became evident that if the City Council were not to receive a 
decided opposition to the proposed transfer, they were to have 
no assistance from the Overseers. It was also found that the 
inmates of the Almshouse had generally imbibed gross and un- 
founded prejudices against the House of Industry, in addition to 
the dislike which paupers, accustomed to be supported in com- 
parative idleness, naturally felt towards an institution in which 
work was to be required of them. 

On the first interview, the Overseers of the Poor declared they 
had no authority to transfer the poor in the Almshouse to the 
care of the Dh-ectors of the House of Industry, and that they 
should not cooperate in such removal. On the urgent remon- 
strance of the Committee, they at length assented to allow to be 
iransfeiTed such of the able-bodied poor as the Master of the 
Almshouse should declare might be spared from that establish- 
ment ; and the whole number of the able-bodied poor in the 
Almshouse being one hundred and fifty-five, the Overseers con- 
sented to discharge forty-one. As the Overseers had set up a 
claim of exclusive authority on the subject, their decision con- 
cerning the number to be transferred to the House of Industry 
was acquiesced in by the Committee. 

But the Overseers, persisting in their determination to give no 
sanction to the transfer, instead of delivering the paupers over to 

1 The members elected were, — John Bellows, (ieorge W. Otis, Henry J. 
Oliver, Isaac McLellan, Cyrus Alger, Edward Cruft, Samuel Dorr, George Ilal- 
let, Benjamin Shurtleif. 

2 This Committee were the ^Mavor, Daniel Baxter, Joseph II. Dorr, and 
Caleb Eddy, of the Board of Ahk'Vmen; Elii)halct Williams, James Savage, 
John P. Boyd, Noah Brooks, and Joel Prouty, of the Common Council. 



CITY GOVEHmiENT. 91 

the Committee, called them severally into their room, and, in 
presence of the Committee, gave to each of the paupers a writ- 
ten discharge from the Almshouse, simply informing them they 
were now free from that establishment. By this course of pro- 
ceeding, the paupers were made to understand that the Over- 
seers gave no countenance to their removal to the House of 
Industry, and that they were at liberty to go or not at their 
pleasm'e. The subsequent proceedings of the Committee towards 
the paupers were, consequently, not authoritative, but persuasive, 
and they urged upon the forty-one able-bodied poor, which the 
Overseers had consented to spare from the Almshouse, the 
advantage of taking the bread of the city in the place which the 
city had provided. The result was, that only tiventy-one could 
be prevailed upon to embark for the House of Industry in a boat 
prepared for their transfer. The rest took the Overseers' dis- 
charge ; some of them saying, " they did not go into an alms- 
house for work ; that if they wanted to work they could get it 
out of doors." Thus the fu'st attempts of the City Council 
resulted in obtaining tiuenty-one ovt of one hundred and ffty-five 
able-bodied poor then in the Almshouse for the establishment at 
South Boston. 

The City Council were convinced by this resvdt that tempo- 
rary and compromising measures must be laid aside, and their 
determination to carry into full effect the original design of the 
House of Industry at South Boston should at once be made 
apparent to the Overseers of the Poor and the inhabitants of the 
city. And on the twenty-fifth of August, 1823, the Committee 
made a full report, stating the views of the Overseers of the Poor, 
regarding their authority and that of the Directors of the House 
of Industry, and the consequent difhculties they had encountered 
in their attempts to remove the paupers from the Almshouse to 
that institution ; and then considered the question, whether both 
these establishments ought to be continued. They argued, that 
from motives of economy alone, the Almshouse ought to be dis- 
continued, as the sale of the house in Leverett Street would pro- 
bably be sufficient to defray the expense of all the buildings 
requisite at South Boston. They then urged that the health and 
happiness of the paupers requked a pure atmosphere, space for 
exercise, a separation between the sexes and between the vicious 
and virtuous poor, and opportunity for useful employment ; all 



92 MUNICirAL mSTORY. 

of which could be obtained in the highest degi-ee at South Bos- 
ton. They, therefore, recommended that all the inmates of the 
Almshouse in Leverett Street, which afforded none of these 
advantages, should be transferred to the House of Industry, and 
that the estate in Leverett Street should be sold. 

The Committee then developed a plan, which the Committee 
first appointed by the town for the erection of the Hovise of 
Industry had formed, which was to erect in the vicinity of that 
institution a house of correction for the reception of rogues and 
vagabonds, and other proper subjects of restraint and punish- 
ment. They urged that the protection and comfort of the poor, 
who from age, misfortunes, or infirmity, took refuge in the House 
of Industiy, required such a separation, and recommended author- 
ity and an appropriation for carrying the same into immediate 
effect. In conformity with these views they proposed, — 

1. That the House of Industry at South Boston should here- 
after be the Almshouse of the city, and that the Overseers of the 
Poor should be du-ected to cause all the poor to be forthwith 
transferred to it with certain specified exceptions. 

2. That all the furniture, provisions, &c., should be transferred 
in like manner to the House of Industry also, with certain spe- 
cified exceptions. 

3. That the Overseers of the Poor should be authorized to 
make temporary provision for the sick and maniacs in the house 
in Leverett Street. 

4. That a committee of the City Council should be appointed 
to superintend and aid the Overseers in these arrangements. 

5. That the Directors of the House of Industry should be 
authorized to erect a house suitable for a house of correction, 
and an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars be made for 
that object. 

6. That a joint committee of the City Council should be 
appointed for the sale of the Almshouse in Leverett Street. 

7. That the future admission of paupers into the house in 
Leverett Street should be prohibited, exce]>t in case of necessity, 
and until they could be removed to South Boston. 

8. That the Overseers of the Poor should be authorized to give 
permits for admission into the House of Industry. 

9. That the Mayor and Aldermen, on appUcation of the Over- 
seers of the Poor, should be authorized to provide for the transfer 
of such poor to South Boston. 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 93 

This report was accepted, and the votes recommended passed 
by both branches of the City Council, and the several commit- 
tees appointed, of each of which the Mayor was constituted 
Chairman. 

By the direction of the Committee, the Mayor communicated 
these votes to the Overseers of the Poor on the ninth of Septem- 
ber ; but they refused to comply with the directions relative to 
the transfer of the poor to South Boston, denying the authority 
of the City Council and the responsibility of the Overseers to 
that body. 

The Mayor, however, being anxious to prevent, if possible, all 
collisions between the different city authorities, addressed a letter 
to the Chairman of the Overseers of the Poor, stating that 
" twenty or thirty laborers were now wanting at the House of 
Industry ; " that " he had been informed by one of the Overseers 
of the Poor that such a number, at least, of able-bodied poor 
were now in the Almshouse with little or no work ; " that " if 
they could not be obtained, it would be necessary for the city to 
hire ; " and expressing the wish of the city authorities to avoid 
all public discussions of questions of jurisdiction between coex- 
isting boards, inquired whether, considering the actual relations 
of things, and also the great respectabihty in point of charac- 
ter and talent of the Dnectors of the House of Industry, the 
Overseers of the Poor, under the expressed wish of the City 
Council, may not enable that body to avoid the necessity of any 
discussion, concerning relative powers, by simply declaring that 
under these circumstances and relations, they consent that such of 
the poor as, after consultation by the Committee of the City Coun- 
cil with the Overseers, it shall be deemed expedient to transfer., 
shall be temporarily placed under the direction and superintend- 
ence of the Directors of the House of Industry, until the whole 
poor shall be transferred, reserving to the Overseers of the Poor 
the right of visitatorial poiver, in relation to that establishment, at 
their pleasure, and of making all inquiries concerning the manage- 
ment there, as they deem expedient, and, in case of any dissatisfac- 
tion, of taking such measures as the exigency may requireP 

None of these suggestions were acceded to by the Overseers 
of the Poor ; and on the twenty-third of September, 1823, they 
made a communication to the City Council, signed by Redford 
Webster, their Chairman, developing their views of their duties 



94 MUNICIPAL inSTORY. 

and rights. In this they stated, that as they derived their author- 
ity from the people, " it did not appear that they ivere, in any 
respect^ the agents of the City Council, or properly subordinate to 
them ;" that " they .derived their poivers from the statute passed in 
1735, ratified and confirmed in January, 1789." They then 
undertook, by a course of reasoning, to show that the city char- 
ter effected no change in those powers, and that notwithstanding 
the acts of the legislature, establishing the Directors of the House 
of Industry, the Overseers had the right to the care of the Alms- 
house and the superintendence of its government and the 
management of the poor. 

The Committee of the City Council, thus finding that all 
attempts to induce the Overseers of the Poor to acquiesce in the 
measures proposed, were fruitless, submitted a report, marking 
out a course of measures, which were adopted by the City 
Council. In this they showed that the claims set up by the 
Overseers of being " neither agents or subordinates of the 
City Council," necessarily implied they were either equals or 
superiors ; either of which excluded the idea of responsibility ; 
that if not responsible to the City Council, they were responsible 
to no one, as the City Council was the only body now invested 
with the fiscal, prudential, and municipal concerns of the city. 
The consequences of such a claim by a Board expending annu- 
ally thirty or forty thousand dollars of the public money was too 
serious to be passed over without examination ; they recom- 
mended, therefore, a special committee for that purpose. 

In order, however, to avoid all discussions concerning the rela- 
tions of authority of the City Council and the Board of Over- 
seers, they recommended a course of measures coincident with 
the views entertained by the Overseers of their own powers, and 
predicated upon the statute of 1735, which that Board considered 
as the basis of those powers. 

As the statute of 1735 required that " the house for the recep- 
tion and employment of the idle and poor should be under the 
regulation of the Overseers of the Poor, and be erected, provided 
for, continued, or discontinued, as the town of Boston shall 
find or judge their circumstances require;" and, as the town 
had no longer a corporate existence, and all the rights of the 
ancient town were, by the terms of the city charter, vested in 
the city of Boston ; and, as all the administration of the pru- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 95 

dential and municipal concerns of said city are, by the same 
charter, vested in the City Council, the Committee considered 
that it would not be questioned by the Overseers, or by any 
one, that it now belonged to the City Council, exclusively, to 
"judge what the circumstances of the city requu-ed, in relation 
to any such house thus erected." 

Upon this ground, following the precise words of the statute 
of 1735, in all material points, they recommended that votes 
should be passed of the following import : — 

1. That for the present, and until the further order of the City 
Council, the house in Leverett Street should be the house for the 
reception and employment of the idle and poor of the city, under 
the regulation of the Overseers, and be continued, or discon- 
tinued, as the City Council shall find or judge the ckcumstances 
of the city require." 

2. That the Committee of the City Council should proceed to 
Leverett Street, and, after notice given to the Overseers, "judge 
what the circumstances of the city require, in relation to said 
house and the inmates thereof;" and if they judge, in relation to 
any of said inmates, that " the said house shall be discontinued," 
it was declared as to them discontinued, and not lawful for the 
Overseers to apply to such inmates any portion of the public 
provision ; and if they afterwards did so apply it, the amount 
was ordered to be deducted from their accounts. 

3. That, in case the Committee of the City Council should 
"judge that the circumstances of the city required that the per- 
sons, in relation to whom the house in Leverett Street was thus 
discontinued, should be admitted into that at South Boston, 
they were authorized to give a certificate to that effect, and the 
Directors of the House of Industry thereupon should admit 
them into that institution. 

Other votes were also recommended, for appointing a com- 
mittee to inqune into the powers and authorities of the Over- 
seers of the Pflor, under the city charter, particularly with refer- 
ence to the limitations of expenditure of public moneys, and 
then responsibility for their disposition of them ; also, for the 
transfer of five thousand dollars of the unexpended appropri- 
ation from the Overseers of the Poor to the Directors of the 
House of Industry ; and, finally, giving to the Overseers of the 
Poor, in conformity with the act of February, 1794, a general 



96 MUNICIPxVL mSTORY. 

visitatorial power, in relation to the treatment of the poor, in the 
House of Industiy. These votes passed the Board of Aldermen 
on the twenty-ninth of September ; and on the first of October, 
notice having been given of these votes to the Overseers, the 
Committee attended, on the second of October, at the Alms- 
house "Wharf with a boat, and received from them thirty-five of 
the inmates, who were forthwith transferred to the House of 
Industry. After this time, the course of measures which the City 
Council had originally resolved upon were steadily pursued, — to 
make the house erected at South Boston the refuge of the respect- 
able poor, and the House of Correction, then in progress, the recep- 
tacle of the vagrant and vicious. 

During the remainder of this city year, the house in Leverett 
Street was chiefly used for the accommodation of the sick, and 
for the temporary reception of those who were to be subse- 
quently transferred to South Boston, no further obstructions 
being offered by the Overseers. An account of their opposition 
to future measures of the City Council will be given in a subse- 
quent chapter. 

The foundation for a building for a house of correction was 
laid this year, under the superintendence of the Dkectors of 
the House of Industry. About five acres of land were also 
purchased, in its immediate vicinity, for the enlargement of 
its boundaries. 

In this state of progress the relations of that institution stood 
at the end of the second year of the city government. 

In June, 1823, a petition of the proprietors of the church in 
Bromfield Street, praying for the liberty to erect tombs in the 
cellars of that edifice, drew the attention of the City Council to 
a consideration of the expediency of granting such a right. The 
subject was referred to a Committee of the City Council.^ The 
petition was pressed with gi-eat urgency, as a common right, and 
the grant of a lilce privilege, by the preceding City Council to the 
churches of St. Paul and Park Street, was reUed upon as conclu- 
sive. The question presented great difficulties. To gi-ant it, would 
be to allow all the churches in the city a similar privilege, which, 
considering the pecuniary advantage resulting, would be likely to 
be generally used. To deny it, would be to withhold from a nume- 

1 This Committee were, — the Mayor, Aldermen Dorr and Hooper, and 
Messrs. Page, S. Perkins, Wales, and Bullard, of the Common Council. 



CITY GOVERNIIENT. 97 

rous congi'egation rights which had, during the last year, been 
granted to two churches in their immediate vicinity. 

On examining into the circumstances under which those privi- 
leges had been granted to the St. Paul and Park Street churches, 
it was found that they had been acquired under a weight of pri- 
vate interests and influences, which rendered it doubtful whether 
the permanent welfare of the city had been sufficiently con- 
sidered. The important question, concerning the propriety of 
allowing cemeteries under chm'ches in the heart of a metropolis, 
had been brought before the first administration in December, 
1822, by a petition of the proprietors of St. Paul's, praying for 
leave to use the cellar under that building as a place of inter- 
ment ; " and stating that, having erected a chui'ch at a great 
expense, they had incuiTed a debt, from which they could not be 
relieved unless their prayer was gi-anted. Among the proprietors 
of St. Paul's were men of wealth and influence, who were 
earnestly desirous of securing, not only for their church, but for 
themselves, the benefit of possessing tombs under it. The pro- 
prietors of Park Street possessed similar influences in the com- 
munity, and were actuated by a similar desire to be relieved from 
a troublesome debt, by the sale of their cellar for tombs. Mem- 
bers of each society were members of one or the other branch of 
the city government. This combination of circumstances had 
a tendency to counteract an unbiased inquiiy into the public 
interest. 

The Committee of the first City Council, to whom the peti- 
tion of the church of St. Paul's had been refen-ed, in 1822, 
reported, that " learned physicians had given a decided opinion 
that no injurious effects were to be apprehended from granting 
such a privilege on the health of the city ; " that " persons whose 
business obliged them to be constantly exposed to the decompo- 
sition of animal matter, were as healthy as other classes of 
citizens ; " and that " no danger had arisen from cemeteries under 
King's Chapel and Trinity Church;" and, "as to nauseous 
effluvia, tombs might be so constructed as to prevent any incon- 
venience in that respect;" and after recommending that the 
City Council should annex it as a condition, that the tombs 
should be constructed under the du'ection of a committee of the 
City Council, and forever subject to then- control, they reported 
the prayer of the petition ought to be gi-anted. This report 
9 



98 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

was accepted in both branches on the thirtieth December, 1822. 
The Committee who made this report, in answer to the objec- 
tion, that other societies would claim the same privilege, stated 
"they had not taken that into consideration, leaving it to the 
judgment of those who shall have the care of the interests of 
the city at the time such application may be made." No notice 
was taken of this statement, or intimation given, so far as could 
be ascertained, of any intention on the part of the proprietors 
of Park Street Church, to take immediate advamtage of the 
precedent. Yet, on the twenty-third day of January ensuing, as 
soon as the principle was settled, by the acceptance of that 
report, those proprietors presented a petition for a similar right 
of interment under their church, predicated on the grant to the 
Church of St. Paul's ; and their petition was granted, without 
even the formality of commitment or any further inquiry. 

Other circumstances greatly diminished the confidence of the 
second administration of the city in the soundness of these per- 
missions, and led them to submit the petition of the proprietors 
of the church in Bromfield Street to a rigorous scrutiny. On 
the fom-th of August, (1823,) the Chairman of this Committee 
reported, that the claim of the Bromfield Street Church had no 
foundation on the ground of common right, each City Council 
being independent, and not bound to exercise its discretion by 
precedents set by its predecessors ; that if the claim of this 
church be granted, there would be no resisting similar claims, 
and that the cellar of every chm-ch in the city might be con- 
verted into a cemetery ; that the temptation to exercise that 
right, when it was recognized to be universal, would be abso- 
lutely irresistible, since Park Street Church had aheady realized 
eight thousand dollars, and St. Paul's thirteen thousand, by sales 
of tomb rights, under the Uberty granted by the first City 
Council. 

Touching the opinions of those physicians, who had declared 
to the Committee of the first City Council, on the application 
of St. Paul's Church, " that if tombs under churches were of 
brick and stone, and arched, there could be no danger to health 
therefrom ; " and that " fevers arise from the decomposition of 
vegetable, and not of animal, matter;" the Committee of the 
second City Council remark, that " they have ascertained that 
other physicians, not less known, of at least equal standing, 



CITY GOVEKmiENT. 99 

and as well deserving of confidence, held directly contrary opi- 
nions, in which they are supported by facts, and the concurrence 
of European physicians of eminence ; " from which the Com- 
mittee deemed it at least doubtful, whether any measure so 
natiu-ally alarming, and, once adopted, if erroneous, so irre- 
trievable, should be predicated on opinions thus equivocally set- 
tled among professional men. " But if," they add, " decomposi- 
tion of animal matter be not obnoxious, why require tombs to 
be constructed with so much care ? The physicians most favor- 
able to such grants declare, there will be no danger if the tombs 
were properly built, thereby strongly implying there would be 
danger if they are improperly built. By the very words of these 
physicians, safety, therefore, depends, not upon the harmlessness 
of the effluvia, but upon the precautions used. The declaration 
of one physician, that ' he had never known the slightest ofTen- 
siveness from tombs under churches,' was distinctly repelled by 
the deposition of the sexton of King's Chapel, and by the certi- 
ficate of the Rev. Dr. Freeman, rector of that chmx-h ; as also 
by a letter from the oldest physician of the city, Dr. Samuel 
Danforth, who, for extensive practice, weight of professional 
character, and intellectual talent, was second to no physician in 
it ; and other certificates, to hke effect, might have been obtained 
from other physicians. In conclusion, the Committee stated, 
that the evidence of the noxiousness and danger from the effluvia 
under churches was, in their opinion, established beyond ques- 
tion, and confirmed even by the advocates of that practice ; that 
safety depends upon the tightness of the vaults ; and that the im- 
possibifity of enforcing requisite precautions by statutory provi- 
sions was evidenced by the fact, that the right of erecting tombs 
under Park Street and St. Paul's Churches was granted on the 
express condition, ' that thejj should be built under the direction 
of the City Council;'' yet, strange as is the fact, the tombs are 
built, and no directions of the City Council were either asked or 
given, so far, at least, as appears by their records.^'' 

The Committee add, that " a subject of this importance should 
be decided without regard to private interests. The right of 
being buried undfer churches must necessarily be confined to a 
very few. It is not just, that a small minority of the population 
should have the privilege of poisoning the air for the great ma- 
jority. If the right of ancient tombs is to be respected, those 



100 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

rights ought not to be multiplied and extended by the erection 
of new tombs. It is the duty of the official guardians of states 
and cities to avoid adopting any policy raateriaUy affecting the 
general health or welfare on the assumption of wavering theories, 
especially when they contradict the most direct intimations of 
sense and reason. Instead of advocating the burial of the dead 
within the city, the great duty of a city government is to adopt 
rigidly a prospective system, which should ultimately, in some dis- 
tant time, exclude burial within its limits altogether.' The Com- 
mittee, therefore, recommend a rejection of the petition of the 
Bromfield Street Church; the prohibition of the erection of 
new tombs within the ancient peninsula of Boston ; the adop- 
tion of ' measures ultimately tending to exclude all burials here- 
after within the peninsula ; and devising measures for applying 
the only perfect and satisfactory remedy, by adopting some com- 
mon place of burial for all the inhabitants, selected, if possible, 
beyond the limits of the city, but certainly beyond that of the 
peninsula, of an extent sufficient to meet the future exigencies 
of the population. There let all classes meet together, and let 
a common interest in the place be fortified and perpetuated by 
the sympathies and affections common to all, and thus become 
honored, and protected, and consecrated." 

These views were submitted by the Committee in a series of 
resolutions, and adopted by the City Council. 

The chiu-ch and congregation in Bromfield Street, although 
denied a liberty which had been granted by the fii'st City Council 
to the churches of St. Paul and Park Street, and who were thus 
dejirived of an important pecuniary benefit, submitted without 
a murmur, and in a manner highly honorable and exemplary, to 
the decision of the City Council. 

The tone and policy of this report, made in 1823, have been 
since sanctioned by the establishment of the cemetery at Mount 
Auburn by an effective organization of ]:)rivate citizens ; and if 
similar plans are adopted by any future City Council, the main 
design of the Committee may be in time carried into effect, and 
burials altogether excluded from the precincts of the city. 

The new organization of the city authorities having rendered 
a more efficient police requisite than had existed under the town 
government, an ordinance was passed, in June, 1823, authorizing 
the election and prescribing the duties of the city marshal, to 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 101 

which office Benjamin Pollard was immediately nominated by 
the Mayor, and appointed by the Board of Aldermen. In con- 
stituting this department, a strong feeling was manifested in the 
Common Council to retain in their hands a concurrent vote in 
the appointment of the City Marshal, as being the head of the 
police. But the opinion ultimately prevailed, that this officer wa? 
in fact the arm of the executive jjranch, for which it ought to be 
exclusively made responsible ; that a voice in his appointment, 
vested in the legislative branch, would essentially and injuriously 
affect that responsibility. An officer, exercising powers and fulfill- 
ing duties like those required of the City Marshal, ought, as far as 
possible, to be removed from all temptation of fear, on account of 
his popularity. This office, when faithfully executed, must often 
cross the interests, and sometimes the passions, of men influ- 
ential in local spheres. Perhaps no office exposes an individual 
to gi'eater risks of becoming unpopular. Both from its conspi- 
cuousness and its salary, the office would be an object of ambi- 
tion and intrigue ; and that the difficulties of a faithful perform- 
ance of its duties, from their minuteness, and the general and 
wide sphere of action to which they were applicable, rendered 
such performance easily susceptible of mistake and misrepresent- 
ation. These considerations were conclusive in the judgment of 
the Common Council, who passed the bill constituting this de- 
partment, limiting the responsibility of this officer to the Board 
of Aldermen, on whom rested the reciprocal responsibility of 
keeping an unworthy officer in power. The importance of this 
decision on the character and efficiency of this office cannot be 
too highly estimated. The qualifications of Mr. Pollard for the 
office of City Marshal were unquestionable. He was intelligent, 
well-educated, gentlemanly in manners, acquainted with the laws 
and with mankind, and of a disposition to fulfil the duties of the 
office faithfully. It would not have been easy to find an officer 
combining more requisite qualities, or generally more acceptable. 
He performed the duties of City Marshal twelve years, under 
four successive administrations, until his death, in November, 
1835. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823-1824. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Measures for the Suppression of Idleness, Vice, and Crime — A House of Cor- 
rection — Its Effects — Building provided for Juvenile Offenders — Jts Re- 
sults — Petition for General Meetings in AVards — Loans proposed for City 
Improvements — Theatrical Licenses — Ropewalk Lands — Islands in the 
Harbor — Common Sewers. 

Peculiar and difficult duties, relative to idleness, vice, and 
crime, devolved upon the second administration of the city, 
which led to measures, during the six ensuing years, resulting 
in a complete system of institutions adapted to their restraint 
and reformation. 

That class of vicious population unavoidable in a city was, 
at that time, in Boston, thickly concentrated in a district at 
West Boston. Twelve or fourteen houses of infamous character 
were openly kept, without concealment and without shame. 
The chief officer of the former police said to the Mayor, soon 
after his inauguration: "There, are dances there almost every 
night. The whole street is in a blaze of light from their win- 
dows. To put them down, without a military force, seems im- 
possible. A man's life would not be safe who should attempt 
it. The company consists of highbinders, jail-birds, known 
thieves, and miscreants, with women of the worst description. 
Murders, it is well known, have been committed there, and more 
have been suspected." He was asked, "If vice and villany 
were too strong for the police?" He replied, "I think so; at 
least, it has long been so in that quarter." He was answered, 
"There shall be at least a struggle for the supremacy of the 
laws." 

These representations of the police officer were not exagge- 
rated ; but means of relief were difficult. A house of correction, 
the legal instrument of control for such offences, had never ex- 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 103 

isted in the town of Boston. Within the inclosure surrounding 
the Almshouse in Leverett Street, there had been, from its first 
establishment, a small brick building, called " The Bridewell ; " 
but its accommodations were too limited to restrain or punish 
even the inmates of the house,^ and were wholly inadequate as a 
resource to come in aid of the judicial courts of the county. A 
sentence to the House of Con-ection was, in effect, a sentence 
of confinement to the common jail, where this class of offenders 
received their punishment, without means of labor, and without 
other special superintendence or moral influence than tenants of 
prisons were at that time accustomed to receive, which was 
compa.ratively none at all. It accordingly appears, by the offi- 
cial returns of the Municipal Court, in the years 1822 and 
1823, that, out of three hundred and fifty-eight sentences to con- 
finement, two hundred and forty-three were to the common jail, 
and not one to the House of Correction. It was obvious, there- 
fore, that all attempts to give efficiency to the moral police of 
the city, must be preceded by providing a house of correction. 

On inspecting the common jails of the city, in Leverett Street, 
it was found that, of the two stone prisons there situated, one 
was amply sufficient for all the usual exigencies of the courts of 
justice. It was determined, therefore, to convert the other into 
a house of coiTection, and employ the inmates in the adjoining 
jail-yard in hammering stone and like materials. 

Accordingly, on the fourth of .lune, 1823, the Mayor and 
Aldermen passed an order appropriating the North Prison to 
that use, and appointed the jailer of the prison its keeper. 

Both the sheriff and the jailer opposed this measure. Their 
objections, representing such a location of the House of Correc- 
tion, in the vicinity of the common jail, to be incompatible with 
the safety of the one institution and the discipline of the other, 
had so much weight, that the Mayor pledged himself, on behalf 
of the City Council, that the arrangement should be temporary ; 
and, on the recommendation of the Committee, in 1823, the City 
Council, in December following, authorized a building, destined 
for a house of correction, to be erected at South Boston. 

In October, 1823, the House of Correction was organized in 
the North Jail, in Leverett Street, under the statutes of the 

1 It was two stories high, forty-one feet long, thirty feet wide, and contained 
twenty-four locked cells and two other cells. 



104 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Commonwealth, by appointing three overseers,^ and establishing 
rules and regulations for its government. A Committee of the 
Board of Aldermen, consisting of the Mayor and Messrs. Odi- 
orne and Child, was also appointed for the general superintend- 
ence of the whole subject. 

The immediate result of these measures on the moral condi- 
tion of the city were thus stated by the Mayor, in his inaugural 
address to the City Council, in May, 1824 : — 

" There existed at the commencement of last year, in one section of the city, 
(West Boston,) an audacious olitrusiveness of vice, notorious and lamentable, 
setting at defiance not only the decencies of life, but the authority of the laws. 
Repeated attempts to subdue this combination had failed. An opinion was 
entertained by some, that it was invincible. There were those who recom- 
mended a tampering and palliative, rather than an eradicating, course of mea- 
sures. Those intrusted with the affairs of the city were of a different temper. 
The evil was met in the face. In spite of clamor, of threat, of insult ; of the 
certificates of those who were interested to maintain, or willing to countenance, 
the locating vice in this quarter, a determined course was pursued. The whole 
section was put under the ban of aiithority. All Hcenses in it were denied. A 
vigorous police was organized, which, aided by the courts of justice and the 
House of Correction, effected its purpose. For three months past, the daily 
reports of our city ofhcers have represented that section as peaceable as any 
other. Those connected with courts of justice, both as ministers and officers, 
assert that the effect has been plainly discernible in the registers of the jails 
and of prosecutions. 

" These measures did not originate in any theories or visions of ideal purity, 
attainable in the existing state of human society ; but in a single sense of duty, 
and respect for the character of the city ; proceeding upon the principle that, if 
in great cities the existence of vice is inevitable, that its course should be 
secret, like other filth, in drains and in darkness ; not obtrusive ; not powerful ; 
not prowUng publicly in the streets for the innocent and unwary. 

" The expense by which this effect has been produced has been somewhat 
less than one thousand dollars ; an amount already, perhaps, saved to the com- 
munity in the diminution of the costs of prosecutions, which an unobstructed 
course of vice would have occasioned." 

The records of the courts of justice soon proved that the 
House of Con-ection diminished the inmates of the prison, and 
its estabUshment was hailed by those interested in the moral 
efficiency of the laws, as an era in our municipal history. The 
Grand Jury of the county, in September, 1824, in their official 
report, expressed " their gralification to learn that, after a lapse of 

1 Thomas Kendall, Jonathan Thaxter, and Edward Dyer. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 105 

tkirfij-six years, measures have been adopted hy the government of 
the city, to erect a suitable house for the confinement and labor of 
those numerous leiod, idle, and disorderly persons, who, by the 
vigilance and faithfulness of the Mayor and Police Court, are 
arrested in their unlaicful careerP 

TJie beneficial results of the House of CoiTection were also 
acknowledged by the citizens in general and the City Council ; 
and in November ensuing, a committee of both branches urged 
the erection of a stockade fence round the sixty acres attached to 
the House of Industry, on the gi-ound that the enclosure would 
soon comprehend the House of Correction, which had already, 
in its restricted location in the North Jail, by its terrors and dis- 
cipline, enabled the city authorities so to reduce the number of 
crimes and offences, as to have their success publicly acknow- 
ledged by the justices of both the criminal courts and the keeper 
of the jail. 

In this report, the Committee give the first intimation of the 
intention of the City Council, which had, from the first esta- 
blishment of the House of Correction, been entertained by the 
Mayor and influential members of that body, to make that insti- 
tution applicable to juvenile offenders, as soon as it had been 
brought into effective operation at South Boston ; by its aid to 
clear the markets, streets, and wharves of those vagabonds, boys, 
beggars, and drunkards, who, under pretence of gaining a liveli- 
hood, learned the habits of begging, stealing, or gambling, and 
whose reformation could not be effected without effectual re- 
straint. 

Although objections had been made by the sheriff and jailer 
to the use of the North Jail as a house of correction, experience 
had incluced the latter to wish for its continuance in that loca- 
tion. The Overseers of the House of Correction concurred in 
this wish, as its superintendence was more easy than at South 
Boston. Considerable expenses, also, had been incurred for its 
establishment in the North Prison, which would be lost by a 
removal. The impending great debt of the city, consequent on 
the extension of Faneuil Hall Market, was also brought forward 
to obstruct further appropriations. An opposition was thus 
raised, which neither influence nor argument could overcome; 
and after the building for the House of Correction at South 
Boston had been finished, it was permitted to lay unoccupied 



106 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

for more than a year, so satisfactory had the result of the experi- 
ment of its establishment in the North Jail proved. 

All attempts for a removal of the House of CoiTection to 
South Boston thus being for a time ineffectual, a design was 
formed to place in the edifice erected for it an establishment for 
the reformation of juvenile offenders. Accordingly, on the nine- 
teenth of January, 1826, a Committee of the City Council, com- 
posed of the Mayor, Aldermen Oliver and Loring, and Messrs. 
Stevenson, Boies, and Grosvenor, of the Common Council, was 
appointed to consider the whole subject; and, on the ninth of 
February, the Committee made a report, stating the importance 
of the design ; the inadequacy of a voluntary association, should 
it be formed for that pmpose ; that, although such a house, from 
its nature, ought to be supported from the resources of the whole 
community, there was no reasonable cause of expectation that 
it would be established by the State. The evil being chiefly felt 
in great cities, the remedy, it was deemed, devolved on the 
municipal authorities ; and that, if a house for the reformation 
of juvenile offenders was thought necessary, it could only be 
effected by the power or means of the city. 

The Committee then stated the causes and various considera- 
tions which had unavoidably postponed, for a time, the removal 
of the House of Correction to the edifice erected at South 
Boston, although the growth of the city would render its future 
transfer inevitable. In this building, the experiment of a house 
for the reformation of juvenile offenders might therefore be made, 
with little comparative expense. 

The City Council immediately concurred in these views, and 
authorized an application to the legislature of the State for the 
requisite powers, which were granted to the City Council, by an 
act passed in March, 1826. Under this act of the legislature, 
the cast wing of the building at South Boston, originally in- 
tended for a house of correction, was authorized to be used for 
the reception of juvenile offenders, and the Directors of the 
House of Industry appointed Directors of the new institution. 
The aiTangements for carrying it into efl'ect were made under 
the disadvantages incident to the circumstances under which it 
was commenced. There was far from being a universal concur- 
rence in the design, either in the City Council or among the 
citizens. The expenditiues were immediate and considerable ; 



CITY GOYERN]MENT. 107 

the advantage distant and prol)lematieal. Many were of opi- 
nion that it ought to be supported by the resourccri of the State, 
and not of the city. It was an experiment, and its success 
necessarily depended upon the qualifications of the superintend- 
ent, among which zeal and entire devotion to the service are 
indispensable. Difficulties also occurred from tender-hearted 
philanthropists, who regarded the length and nature of the re- 
straint as severe, notwithstanding the boys were committed by 
a court of justice for serious offences. Parents, also, who had 
been deprived of the services of their sons, made complaints 
and attempts for their discharge. During the first eighteen 
months, the institution had about seventy inmates, from nine to 
eighteen years of age ; but its friends, not being entirely satisfied 
with its success, determined to prove the efficacy of the institu- 
tion by unquestionable results, or recommend its abandonment 
altogether. Happily, in November, 1827, the Rev. E. M. P. 
Wells was appointed the chaplain and superintendent; and 
entered on the duties of his station with the spirit and energy 
characteristic of a vigorous mind, a resolved purpose, and a 
heart zealous and devoted to the objects of the institution. By 
constant supervision, kind treatment, friendly advice, and strict 
requirement of obedience, he dispensed with the use of the 
whip and solitary confinement for punishments, except in highly 
aggravated ofFenCes. He encom*aged each individual, as he 
rose in the moral scale, by privileges, and subjected him to pri- 
vations, if he fell in it. Sti'ictness without severity, love with- 
out indulgence, were the elements of his system of manage- 
ment ; regarding the juvenile delinquents rather as " sinned 
against than sinning," both by parents and society. To secure 
perfect purity and order, he submitted to the inconvenience of 
sleeping in a large hall, with the key under his pillow, in the 
midst of sixty, and, at times, a hundred boys, each in a single 
bed; several of them possessing physical strength little, if any, 
inferior to his own. He held the office five years, and produced 
results sufficient to prove the value and receive the reward, in 
consciousness of fulfilled duty, of such efficiency and self-devo- 
tion. During this period, the annual admission averaged sixty- 
two; the number in the house usually was one hundred and 
twenty ; at one time it amounted to one hundred and twenty-nine. 



108 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

The annual average discharge was //i(//-SiA;; and the whole num- 
ber over which his care was extended was four hundred mid four- 
teen. Four tenths of these juvenile offenders were sent to the 
institution under the vagrant act ; three tenths for larceny, for- 
gery, and other crimes ; three tenths for stubbornness and disobe- 
dience. They came, almost without exception, ignorant, lazy, 
vicious, repulsive and disgusting in external appearance. The 
work of improvement was general and thorough. After from two 
to five years' subjection to the discipline of the institution, expe- 
rience showed that five sLxths of those discharged by Mr. Wells 
might be considered reformed. They were readily received as ap- 
prentices by respectable farmers, mechanics, masters of vessels, 
and gave evidence, by their general conduct, of becoming use- 
ful, prosperous, and virtuous members of the community. The 
excellence of the institution, and the high merits of the super- 
intendent, were universally acknowledged ; and a just and well- 
deserved tribute to both was paid by Messrs. Beaumont and De 
Tocqueville, Counsellors of the Royal Com-t of Paris, who came 
in 1832 to this country, as French commissioners, to inquii-e into 
the penitentiary systems of the United States. In then* report 
they state, that the Institution for the Reformation of Juvenile 
Offenders at South Boston is " admirably conducted ; but its 
success seems to us less the effect of the system itself, than 
of the distinguished man who puts it in practice," who " exhi- 
bits a zeal and a vigilance altogether extraordinary, which it 
would be a mistake to expect in general from persons most 
devoted to their duties." 

The system of Mr. Wells, comprising, as it does, all the essen- 
tial and practical elements requisite for a sound moral, physical, 
and intellectual education, deserves the attentive consideration 
of the superintendents of aU institutions for the reformation of 
the ignorant and vicious ; but, like all systems of government, 
will be proportionably successful as the individual who conducts 
it is qualified, by talents and devotedness, for the task he under- 
takes. 

In respect of the general effect produced by the House of 
Industry, the House of Coi-rection, and that for the Reformation 
of Juvenile Offenders, on the relations of poverty, vice, and crime, 
in the city of Boston, the Mayor, in his address on taking a final 



' CITY GOYERN^IEXT. 109 

leave of the office of Mayor, which he had held for nearly six 
years, made the following statement, in January, 1829 : — 

" In respect of what has been done in support of public morals, when this 
administration first came into power, the police had no comparative eilect ; the 
oitj' possessed no house of correction, and the natural inmates of that establish- 
ment were on our 'hills,' or on our commons, disgusting the delicate, oifcnding 
the good, and intimidating the fearful. There were parts of the city over which 
no honest man dared to pass in the night time, so proud and uncontrolled was 
there the dominion of crime. The executive of the city was seriously advised 
not to meddle with those haunts, their reformation being a task altogether 
impracticable. 

" It was attempted. The success is known. Who, at this day, sees begging 
in our streets ? I speak generally ; a transient case may occur, but there is 
none systematic. At this day, I speak it confidently, there is no part of the 
city through which the most timid may not walk, by day or by night, without 
fear of personal violence. What streets present more stillness in the night time ? 
Where, in a city of equal population, are there fewer instances of those crimes, 
to which all populous places are subject ? 

" Doubtless much of this condition of things is owing to the orderly habits of 
our citizens ; but much, also, is attributable to the vigilance which has made vice 
tremble in its haunts, and fly to cities where the air is more congenial to it ; 
which, by pursuing the lawless vendor of spirituous liquors, denying licenses to 
the worst of that class, or revoking them, as soon as found in improper hands, 
has checked crime in its first stages, and introduced into these estabhshments a 
salutary fear. By the effect of this system, notwithstanding, in these six years, 
the population of the city has been increased at least fifteen thousand, the num- 
ber of licensed houses have been diminished from six hundred and seventy-nine 
to five hundred and fifty-four. 

" Let it be remembered, that this state of things has been effected without 
the addition of one man to the ancient arm of the police. The name of the 
police officer has, indeed, been changed to city marshal. The venerable old 
charter number, of twenty-four constables, still continues the entire array of the 
city police. And eighty watchmen, of whom never more than eir/hteen are out 
at a time, constitute the whole nocturnal host of police militant, to maintain the 
peace and vindicate the wrongs of upwards of sixty thousand citizens. 

" The good which has been attained, and no man can deny it is great, has 
been efft'cted by directing unremittingly the force of the executive power to 
the haunts of vice, in its first stages, and to the favorite resorts of crime, in 
its last. 

" To diminish the number of licensed dram-shops and tippHng-houses ; to 
keep a vigilant eye over those which are licensed ; to revoke, without fear or 
favor, the licenses of those who were found violating the law ; to break up 
public dances in the brothels ; to keep the light and terrors of the law directed 
upon the resorts of the lawless, thereby preventing any place becoming danger- 
ous by their congregation, or they and their associates becoming insolent, through 
sense of strength and numbers. These have been the means ; and these means, 
faithfully applied, are better than armies of constables and watchmen." 
10 



110 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. ^ 

On the third of January, 1825, a petition by fifty qualified 
voters was presented to the Board of Aldermen for the calling a 
meeting of the citizens in wards, to consider the expediency of 
having twelve aldermen chosen in each ward instead of eight. 
The doubts entertained concerning the authority to call meetings 
of citizens in ivards on subjects of this nature, were freely stated 
to the leading petitioners. It was found, however, that they dis- 
regarded those doubts, and placed their claim for such a meeting 
on the basis of right, and denied the authority of the Mayor and 
Aldermen to refuse, under the language of the city charter, to call 
any meetmg of citizens petitioned for hy fifty individuals. As the 
proceedings on this application might form a precedent for future 
times, the subject was deemed important enough to be referred 
to a special committee, the Mayor being chairman, who, after 
deliberate consideration, made a report, of which the following 
were the leading features, — that the question on this petition did 
not turn on the general authority of the Board to call meetings 
of citizens, either in wards or in any other way which they may 
deem most expedient for the general interest or local convenience ; 
such, for instance, as calling a meeting in wards to choose a 
vaccinating committee ; but the petition was for a very differ- 
ent object, namely, — "/Ac taking- the sense of the citizens on an 
application to the Legislature for an amendment of the city charter, 
on the requisition of more than fifty qualified voters, and it prays 
that the meeting for this purpose shall be holden in ivards ; " that 
the city charter in its twenty-fifth section, specifically provides 
for three cases, in which, on the requisition of fifty qualified 
voters, it is imperative on the Board of Aldermen to call a gene- 
ral meeting of citizens, and these are, — 1st. Consultation on the 
common good. 2d. Giving instructions to representatives. 3d. 
Taking measures for redress of grievances. That the petition in 
this case was unquestionable, on subjects specifically included in 
the above enumeration, for which it was the duty of the Mayor 
and Aldermen to call a general meeting of the citizens, if that 
would be satisfactory to the petitioners. But the claim being 
that the meeting should be in ivards, the Board decided, that 
they had " no right, on the requisition of any number of qualified 
voters, by any authority derived from the charter, to call any 
meeting other than a general meeting for any of the objects spe- 
cified in the twenty-fifth section of that charter ; " that this sec- 



CITY GOVERXMENT. HI 

tion had express reference to the right secured to the people by 
the constitution of this Commonwealth to assemble, which it was 
intended to secure according to ancient usage ; and which had 
always been exercised in a '' general meeting," and not in ward 
or sectional meetings. The nature of the subjects provided for 
by this section, is conclusive against the right of the Board of 
Aldermen. The questions to which their authority in this 
respect extends, are of the most grave and weighty character, 
such as affect the common g-ood. Instructions to representatives, or 
redress of grievances, are subjects which ought to be discussed 
in general meetings, that every citizen may have the advan- 
tage of the counsel and intelligence of every other citizen on a 
subject of general and common interest. The report, therefore, 
concluded that the Mayor and Aldermen had no right to call a 
general meeting of the citizens in wards for any of the purposes 
specified in the petition. This report was accepted, and ordered 
to be published in three of the public newspapers, for the inform- 
ation of the citizens. 

In November, 1823, the Mayor, by message, recommended a 
consideration of the expediency of providing, by some general 
system, of loans, payable by instalments, incurred for objects of 
permanent improvements, in which posterity were generally and 
chiefly interested. The motives for this suggestion were stated 
to be the rapidly increasing population of the city, the propor- 
tionate increase of building, involving, as a consequence, a rapid 
increase in the value of lands ; that it was impossible for the 
Survej'ors of Highways to avail themselves of the opportunities 
daily occurring for widening and extending streets, without 
exceeding existing appropriations, and without throwing upon 
the current year burdens greater than was just and reasonable, 
at the same time that it would be the worst species of economy 
to suffer opportunities to pass unimproved, which may not 
occur again for many years, and, possibly, never ; or should 
they occur, could not be availed of but at an expense many 
times exceeding that at which they now could be made, arising 
from the certain gi-eat increase of the value of land resulting 
from increasing population. As it respected posterity, there- 
fore, the question was bet^veen a light, pecuniary burden of 
accruing interest and a heavy tax for improvements, which time 
would show to be unavoidable, together with narrow streets and 



112 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

other inconvenient localities, which the value of the land may 
hereafter render impossible to change, but which now might be 
obtained with little comparative expense ; all that seemed requi- 
site was, that limitations should be adopted to guard against 
excess and abuse of this power. 

The message was referred to the Mayor and Aldermen Baxter, 
Odiorne, and Hooper, and in the Common Council to Messrs. 
Amory, E. Williams, Savage, Shaw, and Lamson. After delibe- 
ration, the Committee came to the conclusion, that the appre- 
hension of a city debt, and the difficulty of preventing such a 
system in after time from abuse, were considerations sufficient 
to counterbalance the certain expediency of the measure, in its 
pecuniary effects on the cost of improvements in the city. 

The terms and conditions on which theatrical and other licenses 
should be granted, had been absolutely vested in the Mayor and 
Aldermen by the city charter. It was important that the first 
steps taken should be firm and just and well considered, that 
correct precedents should be established. 

A committee, of which the Mayor was chairman, was early 
raised, and, after great deliberation, reported that licenses were 
divisible into classes ; the principles applicable to each were differ- 
ent, according to their respective natui-es ; that the licenses of 
theatres were of all the most important, and to be viewed, in 
respect of morals and finance. The tendency of theatrical exhi- 
bitions to draw money from the community, and their effect on 
morals rendered them proper subjects, not only of revenue, but 
also of regulation, in respect of morals. The tax upon them 
ought to have reference to the advantage gained by such license. 
Where the effect upon morals is unquestionably bad, they should 
be denied altogether. Where, as in the case of theatrical exhibi- 
tions, the good is, to say the least, dubious, it is a reason for 
raising the tax for the license, to such a degree as, if possible, to 
reduce the disposition to multiply them, by diminishing the 
resulting benefit, thereby securing as great a respectabifity as the 
case permits, both in the character of such exhibitions, and also 
of those who engage in such employments. Two principles 
applicable to the subject result : — 1st. That the tax should be 
considerable ; and 2d. That it should be uniform ; that the 
amount of the tax should not depend on the expenditures 
incurred to set forth the exhibition, and still less on the smallness 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 113 

of the sum demanded for visiting them. The injury to morals 
is often gi-eat, in a direct ratio to the smallness of such expendi- 
tm'e and of such demand. It is the duty of a municipal author- 
ity, in the exercise of such power, to encourage a respectable and 
responsible theatrical establishment. Such an one cannot long 
be uplield in any community, if every light, vagrant, and irre- 
sponsible company be encouraged to compete with it, on the 
suggestion that its pretensions were less, and its facilities for 
public attraction greater. With the same views, bonds of secu- 
rity proportioned to the object, with responsible freeholders as 
bondmen, should be required to conduct the exhibition with deco- 
rum. It should not be permitted, in connection with any licensed 
tavern, or house for the sale of spirituous liquors. At that 
period, however, a license to sell them within the walls of the 
theatre during performance was deemed indispensable ; an opi- 
nion that increasing moral influences of later times has hapj^ily 
and effectually changed. 

This report was accepted, and the votes it recommended 
passed, — making the licenses annual, the tax seven hundred dol- 
lars, and the bonds requned to be five thousand dollars. 

In January, 1826, a vote passed the City Council, that what- 
ever number of constables or police officers the Mayor and Alder- 
men shall see fit to appoint for the preservation of order and deco- 
rum in any house where theatrical or any other exhibition or 
public show shall be licensed or had, or in the vicinity thereof, 
the managers, proprietors, or owners of such exhibition or show- 
shall be liable to pay such expense, and the making such pay- 
ment shall be inserted as one of the conditions of any bond for 
such license. 

Between Charles Street and the Basin of the Boston and 
Roxbury Milldam, there lay a large and valuable tract of land, 
known by the name of " the Ropewalk Lands," which, from its 
local position, its extent, its capacity of improvement, either for 
ornament or revenue, was one of the most important interests of 
the city. This tract had been gi-anted by the town of Boston, in 
the year 1794, to certain proprietors of ropewalks, situated between 
Pearl and Atkinson Streets, which had been that year destroyed 
by fire. The grant was conditional, and had a double motive ; 
sympathy for the sufferers, and the removal of the ropewalks to a 
distance from the then settled parts of the town ; to whose safety 

10* 



114 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

such an accumulated mass of combustible materials was deemed 
dangerous. Tliis land was marsh, or flats, overflowed at high 
tides by the sea, with the exception of an inconsiderable eleva- 
tion, called " Fox Hill," which was chiefly valued as a resource 
for gravel for town purposes. The town, in its grant to the suffer- 
ers, by the fire in September, 1794, denominated it " a piece of 
marsh land and flats, at the bottom of the Common, including 
such parts of ' Fox Hill ' as shafl fall within the prescribed bound- 
aries ; " the street now called " Charles Street," not being at that 
time laid out, and these flats being regarded as the boundary of 
the Common. The gi-ant was made under circumstances of gi-eat 
general feeling and excitement, and without sufficient considera- 
tion of its actual intrinsic value and of probable prospective con- 
sequences. The rights granted were indeed limited and qualified, 
but they were in then- nature perpetual, and could only be devested 
by compromise. The ropewalks built upon this tract had been 
again destroyed by fire, and the proprietors themselves began to 
realize both the danger of rebuilding five or sLx long walks of 
wood in the vicinity of each other, and in the vicinity of build- 
ings, which the increasing population of the city were erecting in 
their neighborhood. Realizing also the great value of the pro- 
perty, they had, in the year 1822, proposed to the first City 
Council to negotiate for either the purchase or the sale of the 
lands which the ropewalks had occupied ; offering thirty thou- 
sand dollars for a quitclaim from the city, or to release their 
right to the whole tract, on the payment of eighty-six thousand 
dollars. 

In May, 1823, these proprietors petitioned to the second admi- 
nistration of the city for deeds or a settlement of those lands, and 
a Committee, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Odiorne, Dorr, 
and Eddy, was appointed, and reported that the interests of 
those proprietors ought to be purchased by the city, and that no 
delay ought to occur in making a settlement of that concern. 
Those interests were now in few hands, but would, probably, by 
death, transfer, or legal process, soon become subdivided, and 
should they fall into the hands of minors, great difficulties might 
arise to the reinvesting the title, free of all incumbrance, in the 
city. The Committee recommended a reference of the respect- 
ive claims to discreet and confidential persons, who shguld de- 
cide the amount the city should pay to the proprietors of the 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 115 

ropewalks for their interest in the tract, and that both the city 
and the proprietors should be bound by their decision. After 
gi'cat deUberation and considerable difficulty, the report was 
accepted by both the City Council and the proprietors. The 
reference resulted in an award, that the title of the proprietors 
should be invested in the city, on the payment of fifty -five thou- 
sand doUars. The referees mutually chosen were, — Patrick 
T. Jackson, Ebenezer Francis, Edward Cruft, Peter C. Brooks, 
and John P. Thorndike, citizens greatly distinguished for their in- 
telligence, probity, judgment, and acquaintance with real estate ; 
and although some opposition was made to the acceptance of 
the award by one of the proprietors, all the others accepted it, and 
the result finally reinvested in the city, free of all incumbrance, 
that great and valuable tract of land relieved of all the embarrass- 
ments which the complicated state of the title had occasioned. 

The situation of that tract, and its connection with the health, 
ornament, and other interests of the city, rendered the future dis- 
position of it a subject of immediate excitement among the citi- 
zens. Some contended that these lands were too important to 
be left unproductive, and that they should at once be put in a 
state to be sold. Others asserted that those lands were appurte- 
nant to " the Common." And although being flats, and usually 
covered with w^ater, they had never been embraced within the 
general idea of " the Common," yet they in fact made part of it, 
and, by the terms of the city charter, the City Council was 
expressly excluded from the power of either lease or sale of the 
Common ; and that neither could be done without the sanction 
of all the citizens. The City Council deemed it most prudent to 
act in conformity with this last opinion ; and to put an end to 
controversy, which was increasing in the city on the subject, they 
called a general meeting of the citizens on the twenty-sixth of 
July, 1824, and required their opinion to be expressed upon the 
two following questions. First, shall the City Council have 
authority to make sale of all the lands west of Charles Street, in 
such way and on such terms as they shall deem expedient ? 
Second, shall they have authority to annex it, as a condition to 
such sales, that all the lands generally known by the name of 
" the Common," and lying between Park, Common, Boylston, 
Charles, and Beacon Streets, shall be kept forever open and free 
from building for the use of the citizens ? 



116 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

At this meeting, a large committee was appointed by the citi- 
zens, of which John T. Apthorp was chosen chairman. This 
Committee, after many meetings and long deliberation, made, in 
October following, a report, setting forth the inexpediency of 
selling the land west of Charles Street, denying the power of 
selling it under the city charter, and declaring the duty of keeping 
the space open for a free circulation of an* from the west, for the 
sake of the health of the citizens. This report, which concludes 
with submitting three other questions for the decision of the citi- 
zens, in addition to those submitted by the City Council, was 
published and distributed, and on the twenty-seventh of Decem- 
ber, 1824, the five questions ^ were all negatived by great major- 
ities, except the second, which passed in the affirmative, by a 
majority of one thousand one hundred and eleven, to seven hun- 
dred and thirty-seven in the negative. The result of the meeting 
was to deny the expediency and withhold the right from the 
City Council of making sale of the land west of Charles Street. 

In November, 1823, the Mayor called the attention of the 
City Council to the importance of securing Deer and Rainsford 

1 The five questions submitted by the Committee were the following : — 

First Quesfion. Shall the City Council have authority to make sale of all the 
upland and flats owned by the city, lying west of Charles Street, on such terms 
and at such times as they may deem expedient ? 

Second Question. Shall they have authority to annex it, as a condition to 
such sales, that the land known by the name of the Connnon, and lying between 
Charles, Beacon, Park, Common, and Boylston Streets, shall be forever after 
kept open and free of buildings of any kind, for the use of the citizens V 

Third Question. Shall the City Council be authorized to bring the question 
of boundaries between the city and the Boston and Roxbury ]\Iill Corporation 
to a settlement, and for that puri)ose be authorized to renew or confirm the former 
grants and acts of tlie town, with respect to said corporation, on such terms and 
conditions as the City Council may deem expedient : Provided that no confirm- 
ation or conveyance be made in virtue of their vote, to authorize the erection of 
dwelling houses or other buildings on any part of the premises ? 

Fourth Question. Shall the City Council be authorized to prepare for sale, 
and to convey on such terms and conditions as they may deem fit, so much of the 
upland and tlaLs as lay southerly of a line beginning at a point on Charles Street, 
thirteen hundred and fifty feet southerly from the dam belonging to tlie Boston 
and Roxbury ]\Iill Corporation, and opposite to the southwesterly corner of the 
Common, and running westerly at an angle of eighty-five degrees with Charles 
Street to the bounds of the city fiats : Provided there be annexed to all such 
conveyances a condition that the Common and all the upland and flats lying 
westerly therefrom shall forever after be kept free from, and unincumbered with 
all buildings ? 

Fifth Question. Shall the City Council, whenever, in their opinion, the con- 
venience of the inhabitants require, be authorized to lay out any part of the 
lands and fiats, lying westerly from tlie Common, for a cemetery, and erect and 
sell tombs therein, on such terms aud conditions as they may deem proper ? 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 117 

Islands from tlie inroads of the sea. The Mayor, Aldermen 
Child and Benjamin, and Messrs. Coolidge, Wilkinson, and Oliver, 
of the Common Council, were in consequence appointed a Com- 
mittee on that subject, who reported on the nineteenth of Novem- 
ber that an examination of those islands, in company with Com- 
modore Bainbridge and General Dearborn, and with other gentle- 
men skilled in maritime concerns, and particularly acquainted with 
the influence of tempests and currents on the harbor of Boston, 
had resulted in a conviction of the importance of taking imme- 
diate measures to secure them from the inroads of the sea. Its 
action had, during late years, done great injury, by gradually 
washing them away, and thus filling up and shifting the present 
channels, and diminishing the protection derived from the bluffs 
and headlands to the great roadsteads of the outer and inner 
harbor. The operation of these causes, if not attended to in sea- 
son, threatened to change one of the safest, most commodious, 
and beautiful harbors in the world, into a sightless, insecure suc- 
cession of sand banks ; the Connnittee, therefore, recommended 
an efficient and immediate apphcation to the National Legisla- 
ture for an appropriation for the preservation of all the important 
points, on which the safety and convenience of the harbor, and 
the consequent commercial prosperity depended. They suggested 
the erecting of a breakwater, and the obtaining from the Legis- 
lature a law, prohibiting the taking away ballast from any of the 
islands. This report was accepted, and the Mayor, Aldermen 
Child and Benjamin, the President (Wells) and Messrs, Savage, 
Oliver, and Dexter, of the Common Council, were appointed a 
Committee to carry it into effect. 

On the eighth of December, 1823, the Mayor brought also 
before the City Council the importance of the immediate pur- 
chase of George's and Lovell's Islands, the former being, in the 
opinion of men of great nautical skill, the bulwark of Boston 
Harbor, both as being the best site for a fortress, and as affording 
the only secm*e anchorage in the lower harbor for ships of war 
and vessels of every size and description, during easterly gales, 
when without a pilot. He had ascertained that "those islands, of 
svich inestimable importance to the city, were the property of one 
individual, who now derives from them an income, by the sale 
of stone and gravel, and thus assisted the inroads of the sea,"' By 
these combined operations, one half of George's Island had been 



118 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

desti-oycd, and both might be purchased for seven thousand dol- 
lars. The City Council were not, however, prepared to adopt 
the suggestions of the Mayor, and referred the subject for con- 
sideration to then* successors. 

In November, 1824, the Mayor again brought this subject 
before the City Council, stating that these islands ought to be 
owned by the city ; that although the duty of fortifying the har- 
bor belonged to the United States, the favorable opportunity for 
vesting the title to them in the city ought not to be lost. The 
measure would strongly express the opinion of the city govern- 
ment of their importance, and must have a propitious influence 
on an application to Congi'ess for an appropriation for their pro- 
tection. This persevering m-gency effected its object. The sanc- 
tion of the City Council was obtained. The Mayor and Alder- 
man Eddy, and Messrs. E. Williams, Wales, and Coolidge, of the 
Common Council, were appointed a Committee, with full author- 
ity ; and in March, 1825, they reported that George's and LoveU's 
Islands had been purchased for six thousand dollars, on terms 
and conditions to which the City Council immediately acceded. 

In the preceding and subsequent negotiation with the Gene- 
ral Government, the aid of James Lloyd and Daniel Webster, the 
Senators of Massachusetts in Congress, was earnestly and suc- 
cessfully given to the views of the City Council. A correspond- 
ence was also opened, by the Mayor, with James Barbour, the 
Secretary of War of the United States, which resulted in a 
transfer to them of the soil and jurisdiction of George's and 
LovelFs Islands, and also so much of Deer Island as should be 
covered by their works, and in an appropriation by Congress of 
forty thousand dollars for the protection of George's and Deer 
Islands by a sea wall. This ajjpropriation was, however, exclu- 
sively applied to, and exhausted in protecting George's Island. 

In November, 1827, the Mayor, therefore, again called the 
attention of the City Council to the state of the several islands 
and beaches in the vicinity of the different harbors of the city, 
stating that the former appropriation made by Congress had 
been expended, and that additional appropriations were requisite 
for the protection of our harbor from the inroads of the sea. At 
the same time he called the attention of the City Council to a 
petition pending before the Legislature of the State from the 
town of Chelsea, relative to the jurisdiction over Chelsea Beach, 



CITY GOVERNI^rENT. 119 

and to the importance of maintaining that Beach in its present 
state. He adverted also to the practice of taking ballast and 
sand from Bird Island and from the Bar, extending from the 
Great Brewster to the Stone Monument, at the entrance of the 
Narrows. An application to the Legislature was accordingly 
authorized, and an act obtained, providing against the several 
injm-ies which were specified or apprehended. 

In February, 1828, the importance of protection to Deer Island, 
as stated in a memorial from the Boston Marine Society, was 
laid before the City Council by the Mayor, and a memorial to 
Congress for an appropriation for that object was authorized, 
and, in June following, a letter from Mr. Gorham, the member 
of Congress from Boston, was received, stating that eighty-seven 
thousand dollars had been appropriated, according to the tenor 
and request of that memorial, and in the course of the same 
month, another letter from Samuel L. Southard, Secretary at 
War, was received by the Mayor, stating that the appropriation 
had been made, and an engineer directed to proceed in the pro- 
posed system of protection. This was accordingly commenced 
in the autumn of 1828, the city having caused the cession to be 
made to the United States of the jurisdiction of that part of the 
island on which the sea wall was erected, as required in like 
cases by the United States. 

The subject of common sewers came early under the conside- 
ration of the City Council. Under the town government, the 
drains were objects of private property, subject to the rules esta- 
blished by law. No person was allowed to open a street for the 
purpose of laying a new or using an old di-ain or common sewer, 
without the consent of the Selectmen. If any inhabitant, with 
their permission, laid a sewer, every person entering his drain 
into it, or remotely benefited by it, was held to pay its owner a 
proportionate part of the charge for its construction and repair, 
to be ascertained by the selectmen, with an appeal from their 
decision to the Court of Sessions. In case of subsequent repairs, 
all persons benefited were held to pay their proportion of the 
expense. The person opening such drain, being bound to give 
seven days notice, by advertisement, to all persons interested, 
to appear and object to it on the day appointed by the Select- 
men, whose duty it was to decide whether the di-ain should be 
opened, and the person who should bear the expense. 



120 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

No system could be more inconvenient to the public, or 
emban-assing to private persons. The streets were opened with 
little care, the drains built according to the opinion of private 
interest and economy ; and constant and interminable vexatious 
occasions of dispute occm^red between the owners of the drain 
and those who entered it, as to the degree of benefit and pro- 
portion of contribution. 

The direction of the drain, and the place in the street selected 
for laying it, was often guided by the interest of him who first 
opened it, with little regard to public or general accommodation. 
An ordinance of the City Council was passed on the seventh of 
July, 1823, adapted to remedy these inconveniences. It provided 
that all common sewers should be laid and kept in repair at the 
expense of the city, under the direction of the Mayor and Alder- 
men ; that persons entering or benefited by them, should be 
held to pay what they should deem just and reasonable. Their 
dimensions, size, position, and materials, with which constructed, 
and all incidental particulars, were subjected to their authority, 
and they were invested with power to compel any owner of land 
adjoining to make a sufficient drain into them, and if neglected, to 
cause the same to be done, and recover the amount of expenses, 
with ten per cent, damages. Penalties were annexed for entering 
a di-ain without a permit, and provisions made for repairing or 
rebuilding a common sewer, and assessing the cost on those 
benefited. A plan of each common sewer, embracing its size, 
its direction, and all particulars to show its local position, was 
directed to be kept in a book for that purpose. 

To carry the system into effect, a superintendent of common 
sewers was appointed to grant permits, and, under the direction 
of the Committee of the district, to oversee the opening and 
repair of common sewers. 

Many difficulties at first occuiTcd in carrying this system into 
effect, from its novelty and from the emban-assments arising 
from the interference of the city common sewers with the acquired 
rights of persons. They were, however, surmounted, and resulted 
finally in the efficient and satisfactory system now in practice. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1824-1825.' 

JosiAn QuiNCY, Mat/oi:^ 

Proceedings of the City Council of the past Year recapitulated — Importance 
of the Responsibility of the Mayor — Estates purchased for the Enlargement 
of Faneuil Hall Market — Plan of the New Market — North Block of Stores 
built and sold — First Plan enlarged — Southern Block of Stores built and 
sold — Corner Stone of Market House laid. 

The general interest of the citizens of Boston, especially of 
those who resided in the northern section of the city, tliat the 
improvements in progi-ess in Faneuil Hall Market should be car- 
ried into effect on the scale in which they had been commenced, 
conduced to the popularity of the Mayor and Aldermen, who 
were all reelected in 1824, almost without opposition. 

The Mayor, in his inaugural address, expressed his acknow- 
ledgments to the citizens for their continued confidence, and to 
the Aldermen for their aid in the measures which had been pur- 
sued the preceding year. By these, the obtrusiveness of vice had 
been checked, through the ajjplication of a vigorous police ; the 
cleansing of the streets had been taken out of the hands of con- 
tractors into the control of the city ; thkteen streets had been ma- 
terially widened, at tlie expense of nearly twelve thousand dollars ; 
the drains of the city had been transferred from private to public 
custody ; the malls on Charles Street and Fort Hill had been 
enlarged and improved ; the House of Industry had been put 
into operation ; measures adopted to vest in the city the title to 
the lands west of Charles Street, and to complete the projected 
improvements about Faneuil Hall. 

The Mayor, in this address,^ justified and explained the neces- 
sity of creating a city debt, and the principles by which the exer- 

1 The whole number of votes were 3950, of which the Mayor had 3SG7. The 
members of the Board of Aldermen were generally elected by similar majorities. 

2 See Appendix, C. 

11 



122 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

cise of that power onglit to be regulated. He then gave his 
views of the duties and responsibilities of the Mayor, the qualities 
the citizens should regard in the selection of a candidate for that 
office, and the official energy and efficiency they ought to exact 
from him; and proceeded to show the incompatibility of the 
powers assumed and exercised by the independent boards, which 
had originate^ under the town government, with the responsibi- 
lity of the Mayor, and the essential authority of the City Coun- 
cil, and the necessity of then removal. 

On this principle of responsibility the Mayor, from his first 
induction in 1823, had taken the place of chairman of every 
Committee of the Board of Aldermen, appointed on any import- 
ant interest of the city. As this practice had been openly cen- 
sured as selfish and assuming, the Mayor afterwards vindicated 
publicly his course, as essential to a knowledge of the objects of 
his official duties, which included inspection, superintendence, 
and recommendation of measures on his responsibility. To an 
intelligent performance of these duties, the actual investigation 
of every question, as it occurs, in the course of daily business, is 
important, as scarcely one can arise among the complicated and 
often discordant interests of a great city, which is absohitely local 
and individual. It touches some other, perhaps some rival inte- 
rest, affects some principle, or creates some precedent, which can 
be alone detected or rightly understood by being examined in the 
vicinity, or among the individuals it directly affects. The know- 
ledge thus acquired, must often be all-important to the chief ma- 
gistrate, who means to place himself in the condition to under- 
stand and maintain all the real interests of the city. One of the 
greatest securities for public virtue and for the exact perform- 
ance of official duty is a sense of responsibility. Whoever means 
to be faithful to himself or his trusts will enlarge and multiply 
occasions for keeping alive this sense in himself and in those 
whose interests he is called upon to protect. 

This course, also, is' not merely expedient, but in a degree 
obligatory. The Mayor is fairly, if not highly, compensated for 
his services. The members of the Board of Aldermen are 
uncompensated. On him who receives the salary justly falls the 
labor and the responsibility. This course, also, has a tendency 
to give the Mayor a personal acquaintance with the citizens, 
their interests, prejudices, passions, and characters. The more 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 123 

of such knowledge he acquires, the better is he qualified to sliape 
the measures of his administration so as to promote the satisfac- 
tion of individuals and the prosperity of the city. 

During the first two years of his administration, the INIayor 
placed himself, as has been stated, at the head of every commit- 
tee of a general character, and also of a great majority of those 
merely personal and local. If, during the subsequent years, he 
changed, in a slight degree, that course, it was out of respect to 
the opinion of others, rather than from any perception of diffi- 
culty or impracticability. From the recent organization of the 
city government, and the consequent new arrangement of its 
powers, and from many new and extensive projects of improve- 
ment, there was, during these years, an uncommon influx of ques- 
tions of great interest and importance ; yet the business of the 
office was efficiently and promptly executed. The practice of 
this rule of conduct, during nearly six years, did not involve the 
Mayor in any unreasonable or impracticable accumulation of 
business ; and there is no ground for the opinion that such a rule, 
and a practice in conformity with it, exceeds the ability of any 
individual qualified for such a station, who brings into it, as every 
one ought, a heart exclusively devoted to duty, and a spirit 
resolved on its faithful performance. 

The practice of devolving all, or a principal part, of the duties 
of the office of Mayor upon committees of the Board of Alder- 
men ought, therefore, to be received by the citizens with great 
jealousy. 

As the city increases in population and' extent, some relaxation 
of this principle may be required, in relation to merely personal 
or local questions; but none ought ever to be permitted in respect 
of those which affect the health, the character, or the general 
interests of the city. A disposition to evade labor and responsi- 
bility is the best criterion of a want of qualification for any 
office. It is important that this point should be distinctly stated 
and realized, for a contrary practice is very likely to find advo- 
cates in a course of time. IVIen of talents and high acquire- 
ments, who take office only as a stepping-stone to some higher 
station, will be apt to regard some of its duties as menial ; and, 
consequently, to strive to throw the personal superintendence 
and examination of the resulting questions upon others, and cast 
on them the burden and responsibility of inspection and decision. 



124 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

They will thus be relieved from attention to subjects, often irk- 
some, never, in them.selves, interesting, at times disgusting, and, 
in cases of malignant contagion, dangerous. Above all, an exe- 
cutive officer is thus enabled to escape the odium and unpopu- 
larity consequent upon discovering his opinions on questions 
often intensely interesting to individuals or sections of the city; 
especially when it happens, as it often must, that the Mayor 
or his friends are interested in the advancement or prevention of 
projects or improvements of the city. The practice of devolving 
responsibility on committees, enables men to do that by influ- 
ence, which they might be unwilling to do directly. It is so 
much easier to effect private and personal views by committees, 
than by direct voice and superintendence, that there is a constant 
temptation to evade the principle of that official responsibility 
of the Mayor which tends to place his conduct in frequent and 
full relief before the citizens. 

This principle of executive responsibility, which the Mayor, at 
his entrance into the office, thus inculcated on the citizens, and 
which, during the nearly six years of his official tenure, he never 
ceased both to assume and avow, was unquestionably among 
the chief causes of whatever success attended that administra- 
tion. It is, however, unfortunately a fact, that there is in 
republics a reciprocal tendency, both in executives and among 
citizens, to keep this principle out of sight. Men are naturally 
jealous of any disposition to exert powers, even when they exist 
and are used for their benefit. But if a people require talents in 
official station, they must exact responsibility in their exercise ; 
for the best, if not the only evidence of talents and qualifica- 
tion for public usefulness is to be found in what is recommended 
and effected. 

The unanimity with which the Mayor and Aldermen were 
reelected, in 1824, was, as has been intimated, chiefly owing to 
the general interest in the improvements then in progress in the 
great central market of the city. 

In constituting the Committee, early in May, to cany into 
effect the resolutions of the preceding year, relative to Faneuil 
Hall Market, with the same powers and under the same limit- 
ations, the same members of the Board of Aldermen were reap- 
pointed; and, as some change had been effected in the other 
branch, Francis J. Oliver, its President, Messrs. Russell, Curtis, 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 125 

T. Page, E. Williams, Hastings, and Coolidge, were associated 
with them, by the Common Comicil. 

The first step taken by this Committee was of a decisive 
character. A sub-committee ^ was appointed to purchase all the 
estates within the then avowed sphere of contemplated imj:)rove- 
ment, provided that the price, including the estates already pur- 
chased, should not exceed five hundred thousand dollars. All the 
negotiations, as heretofore, were conducted by the Mayor, the 
judgment and advice of the other members being occasionally 
called in aid. By the twelfth of June, 1824, in addition to the 
estates already purchased, those of Samuel Parkman, of Gore's 
heirs, of Edward Miller, John Codman, H. G. Otis, and John T. Ap- 
thorp "v\^re secured, at a price somewhat exceeding two hundred 
and eighty-six thousand dollars. On that day, the sub-commit- 
tee made a report of their proceedings, with estimates of what 
sums would probably be necessary to complete the purchase of 
the remaining estates, and showing that there could be no ques- 
tion that the whole might be purchased within the sum author- 
ized by the City Council (five hundred thousand dollars.) This 
report was accepted ; votes were passed unanimously, and au- 
thority given to carry the several contracts into effect, to examine 
into the respective titles, and to issue the requisite city stock. 

On the twenty-ninth of June, 1824, a sub-committee was 
raised, consisting of Messrs. Child, Benjamin, and Williams, to 
consider what measures were requisite previously to a sale of the 
land purchased. Their report, made on the second of July ensu- 
ing, led to votes for notifying the tenants on both sides of the 
Town Dock, to remove within thirty days ; to authorize the 
extension of the common sewer to the flats ; and to locate the 
sea wall for inclosing the Town Dock. In all these arrange- 
ments they were the principal agents. In the mean time, the 
interest of the city to extend the first project contemplated be- 
came evident ; and the Mayor informally ascertained the dispo- 
sitions of Governor Eustis, John D. Howard, and Benjamin 
Bussey, relative to a sale of their estates. It had become appa- 
rent that, by turning the course of the INIill Creek, and extending 
the project further eastward into the harbor, the space around the 
proposed market would be greatly enlarged, and a new street 

^ Consisting of the Mayor, Mr. Child, Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Oliver, and Mr. E. 
Williams. 

11* 



126 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

might be laid out at right angles with the eastern end of the 
proposed new market house, which would be brought in a line 
with the w^esterly end of the stores on Centi'al Wharf, and by- 
removing a few stores on Long Wharf, a straight and most con- 
venient communication would be made with the northern section 
of the city. 

Under these general views, the Committee, having satisfied 
themselves of the practicability of the plan, immediately author- 
ized the Mayor to purchase Mr. Bussey's estate, and proceed 
in his negotiation with Mr. Howard and Governor Eustis, and 
to report the proceedings of the Committee to the City Councd, 
which he accordingly did, on the fifteenth of July, stating to 
them the estates which had been purchased, and the pjice paid 
for them, amounting to four hundred and twenty thousand dol- 
lars ; communicating, on behalf of the Committee, their great 
gratification that " they have been able to effect so nearly the 
purchase of the whole cu'cle of territory necessary for the city to 
possess, without resort to the exercise of the powers granted 
by the Legislature;" that "they have deemed it expedient in 
all cases to yield to the reasonable, and in some, to the ex- 
treme, demands of proprietors, rather than to resort to a compul- 
sory process." He then proceeded to detail the particular situ- 
ation of those estates which had not yet been purchased, by 
which it appeared that three of the proprietors of the three 
fourteenth parts of the estate belonging to Spear's heirs were 
the only owners of estates who had " uniformly declined all 
negotiation concerning their interest in the contemplated sphere 
of improvement, and to make any proposal of sale of it to the 
city ; and that the purpose of these proprietors was fixed and 
unalterable." The Committee, accordingly, recommended a 
course of proceeding conformable to the act of the Legislature, 
declaring the public exigencies required that Faneuil Hall Mar- 
ket should be extended in the direction following, namely, — 
" In an easterly direction, from Faneuil Hall to the harbor, be- 
tween two lines parallel to the walls of Faneuil Hall, and ex- 
tending easterly towards the harbor, of which the north line 
shall be fourteen feet distant from the north side of said hall, 
and the south line shall be one hundred and eighty feet to the 
south of said north fine." Various other resolves were passed, 
giving the s>anction of the City Council to the several measm'es 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 127 

propoped by the Committee. This recommendation was adopted 
by the City Council; and, on the twenty-second of JuJy, the 
Mayor and Aldermen extended and widened Fanenil Hall ]\Iar- 
ket, in the direction and within the limits prescribed by the City 
Council ; and ordered the proprietors, whose estates had not yet 
been purchased, to be notified, of a meeting to be holden at a 
time and place specified in said resolve, and inviting them to 
submit all questions relative to damages to five disinterested 
freeholders, as specified in the act of the Legislature. 

On the day appointed, the three proprietors declined referring 
the value of their estates or selline: them. 

It had always been the anxious wish of tlie Committee and 
of the City Council, as has been before stated, to complete this 
great improvement wdthout resort to the compulsory authority 
granted by the act of the Legislature. For this purpose, they had 
given, or offered, in every instance, prices, either satisfactory to 
the proprietors, or such as, under other circumstances, would have 
been deemed extravagant. The fixed determination of the three 
proprietors of the three fourteenth parts of the Spear estate, to 
stand upon their rights and make no sale of tlieir interests, ren- 
dered, however, the resort inevitable. In selecting the fines for 
the extension of the market, under the authority of the Legisla- 
ture, the Committee had special reference to the lines of the 
Spear estate, so that the future interests of the city might be 
placed in a position not to be embarrassed by any tenacity of 
purpose of these three proprietors. 

The City Council now took the first step towards making 
preparations for building a market house, by gi-anting an appro- 
priation of twenty thousand dollars for sea walls and drains. 
The Mayor, IVIr. Child, Mr. Benjamin, and Mr. Williams were 
appointed a Building Committee, witli authority to appoint an 
agent, and the Mayor was authorized to proceed in his negotia- 
tion with Governor Eustis for his estate beyond the Mill CreeJc. 

This terminated favorably, and, on the twenty-ninth of July, 
the Mayor reported that he had closed a contract for that estate 
for the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. This being accepted, 
the Committee ordered the Building Committee to cause a new 
passage for the creek to be cut through Eustis's Wharf, and to 
fill up the Mill Creek to the southward of the line of the pass- 
age-way so cut. At this meeting, the ground plan of the new 



128 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

market was settled, and the walls ordered to be laid in conform- 
ity with it, by unanimous vote, ]Mr. Wright having been pre- 
viously added to the Committee, in the place of ]Mr. Hastings, 
who was absent. ]VIr. Benjamin was appointed a Committee, 
to cause a ])lan to be prepared of the elevation and interior of 
the new market house. 

In the course of the month of August, the estates of John D. 
Howard and Daniel Vose, and the interest of the minor heirs in 
David Spear's estate, were obtained, and also the principles, on 
which that part of the estate owned by the Long Wharf, in and 
adjoining Bray's Wharf, should be vested in the city, were set- 
tled. Arbitrators were also agreed upon, on the subject of the 
estates taken under the special authority given by the act of the 
Legislature. The three proprietors of the three fom-teenth parts 
of the Spear estate still continuing fixed in their purpose, not to 
sell, and alone, of all the proprietors, refusing to refer, according 
to the election given by said act, — 

Messrs. Curtis and Nichols were now employed by the Com- 
mittee to examine into the whole title of the city and of the 
proprietors on " the Cove and to the Mill Creek;" and the Mayor 
was directed to prepare a report on the recent purchases and 
proceedings of the Committee. This, on the sixth of Septem- 
ber, received the approbation of the Committee, and was laid 
before the City Council on the ninth. 

In this report, the City Council are informed by the Commit- 
tee, that "the interests of the city having further developed 
themselves, in consequence of a more intimate and accurate 
acquaintance with, and investigation of, the relations of the 
estates in that quarter, it was unanimously then- opinion, that 
the extension of Faneuil Hall Market should not be limited 
by the Mill Creek, as at first contemplated. By the purchase 
of Eustis's and Howard's wharves, not only a great improve- 
ment would result, in the accommodation of the city, but also a 
great addition to the means of indemnification for its expendi- 
tures, from the additional store lots and wharf rights which these 
new purchases and this new extension would afford. The estate 
of Mr. Busscy stood in such a relation, both to the Mill Creek 
and to the passage from Ann Street, as to make its possession 
by the city extremely important; that the purchases of these 
estates were necessarily made without any previous public de- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 129 

velopmont of their intentions ; but, in making them, that the 
Committee had acted under a distinct pledge from jjersons of 
responsibility, that if the City Council chose to disallirm those 
pm'chases, they stood ready to take the estate, and relieve the 
city from them. The Committee then proceed to state their 
confidence, that the opinion of the City Council will be in favor 
of accepting them ; their satisfaction that all the purchases will 
be made within the original estimates ; but that the three estates 
above mentioned, not having been included within the original 
estimates, an additional aj^propriation and coriTespondent au- 
thority to make loans, would be essential. 

This report the City Council accepted, and made an additional 
appropriation, equal in amount to the costs of those three estates, 
and the power solicited was granted ; making the whole amount 
of appropriations to this period $547,500. 

Between the sixth and thirteenth of September, 1824, the 
Committee had determined upon the plan and elevation of the 
new market house, that it should be of stone, and proposed to 
the City Council the expediency of giving autiiority for the sale 
of the store lots on the north side of the new market house. 

On the fourteenth, resolves were passed by the City Council, 
sanctioning the plan and elevation and the sale proposed, and 
appropriating seventy-five thousand dollars for the erecting of the 
market house. The sale was directed to be at auction to the 
highest bidder, and the terms and conditions were to be prescribed 
by the Committee, three fourths thereof concurring ; it being a 
condition annexed to such sales that a market house should be 
erected upon the general plan then specified and agreed upon 
by the City Council. 

Accordingly, on the twenty-first of September, 1824, the Com- 
mittee agreed that the sale should take place on the twenty-ninth 
of September ensuing; and that the conditions should be, among 
others, of temporary import, — that no bid less than seven dollars 
per square foot should be taken ; the terms ten per cent, in cash ; 
and for the residue, a bond collaterally secured by mortgage on 
the premises, payable at any period not exceeding thirty years, at 
five and a half per cent, interest per annum ; the purchaser to 
buUd on or before the first of July, 1825, a substantial brick store 
of four stories, conformably to a plan and specification of parti- 
culars. A sub-committee was now appointed to settle with the 



130 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tenants who had been removed, and the IMayor was authorized 
to negotiate with Samuel Hammond, Esq., relative to the land 
in the rear of his building, which had its front on Ann Street, 
and between it and the front line of the proposed new stores. 

An authority to raise fifty thousand dollars, by way of loan, at 
five per cent., was given by the Committee to the JNIayor, with 
the formality requhed, namely, — ten members signing the 
record. 

On the twenty-seventh of September, the long-continued and 
difficult negotiation with Samuel Hammond was terminated, by 
his agreeing to pay thuty thousand dollars for the land and rights 
conveyed to him by the city. It being a piece of land fifty feet 
long and fifty-five feet wide, together with the city's right to a 
passage way ; INIr. Hammond to conform to the plan of building 
required of other purchasers. 

On the twenty-ninth of September, conformably to notice, the 
land for the north block of stores (seventeen in number) was sold ; 
the highest lot producing twenty dollars and eighty-three cents ; 
the lowest sevCn dollars the square foot ; and the gross proceeds 
of thirty thousand and thirty-seven and a half square feet of land, 
which, the seventeen store lots included, amounted to the sum of 
$303,495.42, averaging ten dollars the square foot. 

The Sub-Committee on building (Messrs. Child, Benjamin, 
and Page,) were now directed to proceed in their contracts ; and 
on the fourth of October the City Council authorized the Com- 
mittee to purchase the estates belonging to the heirs of Henry 
Bass, and also Jesse Kingsbury's estate, for the purpose of open- 
ing a street into Ann Street, and widening the passage back of 
the store lots. On the fifth of October, Henry Bass's estate was 
purchased for four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, and 
the plan of the market, as finally built, was signed by the Mayor. 

From the commencement of this undertaking, the original 
design of extending the improvement to Butler's Row had never 
been lost sight of by the city authorities. The practicability of 
it was not believed by a majority of the Faneuil Hall Market 
Committee. Some doubted its expediency. Others could not 
believe that the estates could be purchased at a sum which would 
justify the undertaking. The Mayor, however, during the inter- 
vening period had negotiated with all the proprietors of land 
between Parkman's Block and Butler's Row, and had obtained 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 131 

conditional contracts for the purchase within a limited time of 
all the estates essential to the plan. 

The sales of the store lots for the north block had gi-eatly 
increased the popularity of the plan and sanctioned its success. 
The practicability of enlarging the accommodations round this 
great central market, without any important implication of the 
resources of the city, began to be more generally realized, and the 
feasibility of the plan to be recognized. The only obstruction to 
this enlargement was the refusal of the three proprietors to make 
sale of their three fourteenth interests in the Spear estate. On 
the thktieth of September, however, the day after the result of 
the sale of the north block of stores was known, those proprietors 
addressed a letter to the Mayor, disclaiming all design " to stand 
in the way of city improvements," and declaring their " willing- 
ness that their land should be embraced in the plans adopted, 
and sold with the city lands, they receiving for their portion the 
average of the sales so made." The views of the city's interest, 
and their duty to it, which the city authorities had long enter- 
tained, rendered it impossible to accede to this proposition. The 
late sales had rendered the propriety of these views more obvious 
to the Faneuil Hall Committee and to the citizens in general. 

By the negotiations the Mayor had now conditionally effected, 
it was in the power of the City Council to enlarge the plan of 
improvement to the greatest extent, which the relations of the 
land between Ann Street and Butler's Row made possible ; and 
on the twenty-sixth of October following, he laid before the 
Faneuil Hall Committee the practicability of an enlargement of 
the present improvement, provided the Long Wharf proprietors 
could be induced to sell to the city an additional extent of Bray's 
Wharf; upon which he was authorized to enter into a negotia- 
tion with those proprietors on that subject, and Messrs. Benjamin, 
Oliver, and Williams, were united with him to meet any Com- 
mittee appointed by them on this subject. 

On the eighteenth of December, the ]\Iayor laid before the 
Faneuil Hall Committee plans of an enlargement of South Mar- 
ket Street, and of extending the plan of improvement so as to 
include all the estates as far as Butler's Row, and also a street 
forty feet wide. This representation was refeiTcd to a sub-com- 
mittee, consisting of the Mayor, Mr. Child, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Wil- 
liams, and Mr. Wright, to examine all the plans and calculations, 



132 IMUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

and improve npon them, if practicable, and to report what further 
measures may be expedient. 

Hitherto all the moneys of the Committee had been subject to 
the draft of the Mayor, and they stood to his credit in the books 
of the City Bank. The Mayor stated to the Committee that he 
thought " the power he had over those moneys was not suffi- 
ciently restricted and checked, considered as a precedent; he, 
therefore, proposed a vote, which was adopted, that all payments 
should be vouched by the Sub- Committees making the expend- 
iture and countersigned by the auditor ; " and that all moneys 
received on account of the Committee should be deposited in 
bank to the credit of the Mayor, subject to his draft, under the 
preceding restrictions. 

On the twenty-second of December, the Sub-Committee on the 
proposed extension of the plan of improvement to Butler's Row 
reported, and the Committee unanimously voted that the propo- 
sition for such extension of the improvement ought to be em- 
braced ; and the Mayor was requested to call a meeting of the 
City Council, and state to them that " by the power to apply a 
sum not exceeding two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, 
improvements of great importance might be effected, by the pur- 
chase of land, without any ultimate cost, and with a certain 
ultimate gain to the city." 

On the tsventy-fourth of December following, the City Council 
were specially convened on this subject, and a message transmit- 
ted by the JNIayor, which develo})ed all the views entertained by 
the Committee, and the motives which induced them to recom- 
mend the extension of the plan first ado])ted. As this measiue 
was the occasion of much obloquy at the time, it seems proper 
that these views should be preserved in the form they were at 
that time presented to the City Council. That message is there- 
fore subjoined,^ by which it will be apparent that the motives 
which actuated the City Council were of the most public and 
patriotic character ; then* object being to avail themselves of a 
propitious moment to eflfect in the heart of the city an enlarge- 
ment of the accommodations of its great central market, from a 
width of sixty to that of one hundred and two feet. The popu- 
lation of the city at that time did not make the necessity and 

1 See Appendix H. 



CITY GOVERNilENT. 133 

importance of this enlargement as apparent to the citizens in 
general, as it was to the City Council, and as every day's increas- 
ing experience has since made it. No one can pass throvigh 
South Market Street at the present day (1851) on high market 
days, without realizing both the importance, and even necessity, 
of that measui'e, and perceiving how gi-eatly the advantages of 
that improvement would have been diminished, had this enlarge- 
ment not taken place, and this street had been left of the width 
of sixty feet, as originally proposed. 

In consequence of this message, on the twenty-ninth of Decem- 
ber, an authority was obtained from the City Council to pur- 
chase any land to the southward of the street leading to Bray's 
Wharf, which they may judge expedient, provided the purchases 
did not exceed two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, three 
fourths of the Committee concurring in such purchases and sign- 
ing such concuiTence. On the same day, the vote of the City 
Council \\'as communicated to the Committee, who unanimously 
executed an authority to the Mayor and a sub-committee to pro- 
ceed forthwith to make the respective purchases under the above 
limitation. 

Between the fifth and the eighteenth of January, 1825, pur- 
chases were accordingly made of land belonging to Benjamin 
Adams, Josiah Salisbury, James T. Austin, Thomas Barnes, and 
the Fifty Associates, for $ 113.347 

And, after great difficulties and long negotiation, 
a final arrangement was made with the Long 
Wharf proprietors for the pm'chase of their 
interest, at 105.000 



-^ $ 218.347 

The Committee then proceeded to direct, that South Market 
Street should be laid out not less than one hundred and two feet 
wide, and the new street, running from Merchants' Row, thirty- 
five feet wide ; that the Mayor and Aldermen be requested to 
close the street leading to Bray's Wharf, and to open the new 
street ; a select committee was appointed to prepare plans of the 
new store lots to be sold, determine the conditions of sale, and 
report ; and all the tenants in Parkman's Buildings were ordered 
to remove in thirty days. 

Thus the design of the leading members of the first Commit- 

12 



134 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tee on Faneuil Hall Market was extended toward the east far 
beyond their first published plan. The western side conformed, 
in all material respects, to that plan, except that the market 
house, instead of being situated between two streets, each eighty 
feet in width, had a street sixty-five feet in width on the north, 
and one of one hundred and two feet on the south side. The 
cause of this unequal division of the space devoted to these 
streets has already been intimated. 

When, in consequence of the ultimate purchases of the chief 
estates lying between the street leading to Bray's Wharf and 
Ann Street, the whole of the estate of Nathan Spear's heirs 
was taken into South Market Street, great complaints were 
made and indignation expressed, as though unexampled injustice 
had been done to the proprietors of the three fourteenths of Na- 
than Spear's estate, by taking in the whole of their interest for 
a street. It is not, however, apprehended that there was any 
just cause for such complaint and feeling. Those proprietors 
had maintained then* rights with exemplary firmness, and had 
vindicated for themselves all the advantages of the increased 
value of their estates, derived from this city improvement. Their 
estate, however, was, like those of other citizens, subject to be 
taken, on indemnification, by the surveyors of highways for pub- 
lic exigencies. 

In the process for such indemnification, established by law in 
such cases, they had the full right of receiving damages, accord- 
ing to the increased value of their estates, as raised by the city ; 
and this principle was acceded to those proprietors, as a matter 
of law, by the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, in his charge 
to the jury ^ who had the duty of assessing damages, and who 
awarded to those proprietors their proportion of the Spear estate, 
valued at seventy thousand dollars, which, previously to the 
commencement of this project of improvement, had never been 
'valued at more than twenty -five thousand. The assertion, that 
the land was taken by the city as a speculation, was wholly with- 
out reasonable ground. 

After the extension of the Centre Market, according to the 
original plan, was thus effected, minor projects were started in 
connection with it. Some proposed that the new market house 

1 See tlie Boston Dcnhj Advertiser of tbe hvcnty-eighth November, 1826. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 135 

should be widened from fifty to eighty feet. Others, that the 
cellar of the market house, which was now, through its whole 
length, finished and walled, should be taken up and removed, so 
as to coincide with the centre of Faneuil Hall. The proprietors 
of the north block of stores on North Market Street also memo- 
rialized against the widening of South Market Street, as being 
injurious to them, and contrary to the faith of the city, pledged 
to them. Between the eleventh and eighteenth of January, 
these propositions were considered and rejected by the Commit- 
tee ; the fii-st, unanimously ; the second, by a majority of five out 
of nine. As the decision of these questions involved great 
responsibility, the Committee, after declaring their opinion, that 
there was nothing in the proposed widening of South Market 
Street contrary to the faith of the city, requested the Mayor to 
state to the City Council the above votes, and communicate their 
determination to proceed with the market house according to 
the present location and dimensions, unless the City Council 
should expressly direct otherwise ; and declaring their deliberate 
judgment, that no other change should be permitted, except that 
of removing the cellar walls, and erecting it of the present 
dimensions, with the centre coinciding with the centre of Faneuil 
Hall, and this only on the condition that the proprietors of the 
north block of stores consent to pay all expenses consequent on 
such removal. 

The Mayor accordingly communicated to the City Council a 
very long and elaborate report, showing that the widening of 
South Market Street was no direct or virtual violation of the 
faith of the city to the proprietors of the north block of stores ; 
and stating the gi'ounds on which the Committee had seen fit to 
reject the several projects for an alteration in the existing location 
and dimensions of the new market. 

The City Council concurred in all the views of the Commit- 
tee, and directed them to proceed in the manner they had before 
ordered. 

At this period, arrangements were commenced for taking down 
all the buildings purchased to the northward of Bray's Wharf, and 
for clearing the entire space, preparatory to the sale of the south 
block of store lots. And, in the course of the month of Febru- 
ary, 1825, deeds were received from the proprietors of Long 
Wharf, and the purchase money for them paid ; the claims of 



136 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tenants who had been removed were settled, and the south lots 
prepared for sale. The Committee also avowed their intention 
to recommend to the City Council to make no more pm-chases of 
estates in the vicinity of Butler's Row ; declaring, at the same time, 
their opinion, that it would be for the interest of the city if the 
Mayor could induce private individuals to purchase lands in that 
vicinity, for further extending the improvement in that direction. 
This declaration was made with reference to, and in aid of, a 
plan of David Greenough, w^hich had for its object the entire 
closing of Butler's Row. 

On the seventh of this month, the Committee were deprived 
of one of its most active and talented members, by the resigna- 
tion of INIr. Alderman Benjamin, whose practical skill, scientific 
acquirements, experience, and great judgment, as an architect, 
had largely contributed to the success and extensiveness of this 
important improvement, as he had been, in every stage of the 
building of the new market house, joined in council with Alex- 
ander Parris, the employed architect, in devising and improving 
its original plan. 

Mr. Alderman Eddy was elected successor to ]\L-. Benjamin 
on the Special Committee, 

In the month of March, the Committee purchased the estate 
of D. Tucker, on the Long Wharf, for the purpose of opening 
what is now called Commercial Street to the Long Wharf; and, 
after obtaining the sanction of the City Council, they also pur- 
chased, at the cost of thirty-six thousand dollars, the estates of 
William Welsh, Henry Lienow, and of the heirs of Mrs. Hoff- 
man ; the object being to open a thirty-five feet street in the 
du-ection of, and including, the Roebuck Passage. 

On the thirty-first of this month, the twenty-two store lots, 
constituting the south block, including thirty-three thousand 
eight hundred and sLxty-five square feet of land, were sold for 
four hundred and three thousand eight hundred and fifty-three 
dollars, it being eleven dollars and thirty-two cents the square 
foot. 

On the twenty-fifth of April, the Faneuil Hall Committee 
made a report to the Common Council, stating the amount paid 
for land pm-chased, and for the streets laid out, for the accommo- 
dation of the new market house, with the amount received for 
store lots; and, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1825, in con- 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 137 

formity with previous arrangements, the corner stone of the new 
market house was laid ^ in the presence of the City Council and 
a large concourse of citizens, there having been deposited under 
it, inclosed in a leaden case, a specimen of all the coins of the 
United States, a map of the city, all the newspapers of the city 
published on that day, and a silver plate, containing the names 
of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and of the Executive of the Com- 
monwealth. 

1 See Appendix I. 



12' 



CHAPTER X. 

CITY GOVERN^IENT. 1824-1825. 

JosiAH QuixcY, Mcnjor. 

Proceedings relative to the House of Industry — Opposition of tlie Overseers 
of the Poor to the Measures of the City Council — Sale of the Almshouse in 
Leverett Street — The Paujjers transferi'ed to the House of Industry — The 
question of applying to the Legislature for a Modification of the Powers 
claimed by the Overseers of the Poor, submitted to a General Meeting of 
the Citizens — Its Result — Death of Alderman Hooper — Claims of PoUtical 
Parties for the use of Faneuil Hall — Difficulties relative to the Board of 
Health — Change in that Department — Visit and Reception of General 
Lafayette. 

Immediately after the organization of the city government, in 
May, 1824, a committee, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen 
Child, Benjamin, and Eddy, with Messrs. E. Williams, Shaw, 
Frothingham, Otis, Barry, Upham, and Davis, of the Common 
Council, were appointed to consider the best mode of disposing 
of the Almshouse, with authority to sell it, at a sum not less 
than one hundred thousand dollars. 

On the nineteenth of July, the Du'ectors of the House of In- 
dustry reported to the City Council their receipts and expendi- 
tures on account of that institution, its prosperous state, and the 
necessity of a stockade fence around it ; and a committee, con- 
sisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Patterson and Eddy, with Messrs. 
Wales, Russell, William Wright, and Goddard, were appointed, 
with full authority to transfer to the House of Industi-y all the 
inmates of the Almshouse, with the concm-rence of the Overseers 
of the Poor. This Committee, in repeated interviews with those 
Overseers, stated the completion and success of the House of 
Lidustry ; its special adaptation to the class of poor then in the 
Almshouse, its chief design being to supply them with a varied 
succession of healthful employment, on the land and in the 
House, according to the season of the year, their age, sex, and 
capacity, thus enabhng them to do something for their own sup- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 139 

port, and adding to the comfort of the respectable poor, by a 
pure atmosphere, a wider space for exercise, and scenes more 
congenial to the human mind, than an almshouse in the midst 
of a populous city could afford ; that those who had been trans- 
fen'cd to the House of Industry the last year with reluctance, 
were not only satisfied, but grateful and happy in the change. 

The Committee requested the Overseers to examine for them- 
selves the correctness of these assertions ; and, after stating that 
the experiment already made had convinced the City Council of 
the economy, humanity, and acceptableness to the poor of the 
House of Industry, pressed the expediency of immediately trans- 
ferring the inmates of the Almshouse to the new, dry, and clean 
edifice at South Boston, where they might enjoy the comfort and 
advantage of a residence in the country during, the ensuing 
summer. 

The Committee stated that the interest of the city required 
that the transfer should not be delayed ; as a negotiation then 
proceeding for the sale of the house in Leverett Street would be 
embarrassed by an opposition to the views of the City Council. 
They, therefore, proposed an immediate removal of all the poor 
to the House of Industry, except the sick and the maniacs ; for 
whom suitable attendants would be provided by the city, in the 
Almshouse in LeVerett Street, under the superintendence of the 
Overseers of the Poor, until that institution could be entirely 
closed. 

They stated that it was not the object of the City Council to 
deprive the Overseers of their guardianship of the poor, but to 
render their labors more easy and efficient, by adopting a system 
of measures suited to the increasing population of the city. 
From that cause, the office of overseer had become so burden- 
some, that in one ward three citizens had been recently succes- 
sively chosen and successively declined. These objections would 
be lessened when those officers were released from responsibili- 
ties relative to the place appointed for the residence of the poor; 
except those included in their visitatorial power. 

The Committee stated that, after the transfer of the poor to 
South Boston, it was the intention of the City Council that all 
the poor "in the House of Industry and House of Correction 
should be under the superintendence of the Directors of the 
House of Industry ; that all other poor within the limit of the 



140 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

city, in the hospital and in families, to be under the care of the 
Overseers of the Poor, who were to have the exclusive manage- 
ment and distribution of all eleemosynary funds, and of all such 
as the City Council may provide for the poor out of the house;" 
considering these services of the Overseers to include an appli- 
cation of time and labor sufficient for any city to claim gratui- 
tously of any individual. 

These views were not only repeated by the Committee at 
several interviews, but were set forth at large by them in a letter 
to the Overseers, dated the twenty-fifth of June, 1824, and signed 
by the Mayor, David W. Child, James Savage, and Eliphalet 
Williams, without any other effect than that which will here- 
after be stated. 

While the. preceding controversy was pending, the Overseers 
of the Poor raised another difficulty, relative to their accounta- 
bility to the City Council for the expenditure of public moneys. 
By the ordinance " establishing a system of accountability in the 
expenditures of the city," passed on the twenty-second of August, 
1824, no moneys could be paid out of the city treasury, unless 
vouched by the Chairman of the Committee of the Board, under 
whose authority the expenditure had been made, and unless 
passed by the joint Committee of accounts of the City Council. 
The Overseers having drawn an order on the City Treasurer, 
without regarding the provisions of the city ordinance, which, 
not being accepted, the Overseers of the Poor on the twenty-fifth 
of September, 1824, addressed a remonstrance to the City Coun- 
cil, stating that, " under the town, the subscription of the Over- 
seers to the grants and allowances, contained in their draft book, 
was deemed a sufficient voucher for the Treasurer ; " that the 
delivery of the original bills and instruments, authenticating the 
claims of the Overseers, " would be a hinderance in the discharge 
of their official duties, and endanger a loss by the city ; " that 
many of them related to adjustments and transactions between 
them and the Overseers of the Poor or Selectmen of other towns, 
and ought to be retained in their hands ; that in cases of disburse- 
ments made by the Overseers, in their respective wards, to poor 
persons at their dwellings occasionally, according to then: imme- 
diate exigencies, many inconveniences were suggested ; and mea- 
sures of the City Council were requested, relieving them from the 
operation of tlie ordinance relative to accountability. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 141 

This memorial was referred to a committee of the City Coun- 
cil, consisting of the Mayor and Alderman Odiorne, and Messrs. 
Coolidge, Prouty, and Morse, of the Common Council, who, on 
the eighteenth of October, 1824, reported that they had an inter- 
view with the Overseers of the Poor, and heard and considered 
all their suggestions, and that they cannot perceive why the par- 
ticular provisions of that ordinance are not as equally applicable 
to the expenditures of the Overseers of the Poor as to those of other 
boards and individuals intrusted with the disbm'sement of public 
moneys, and that they see no practical difficulty or inconvenience 
that will result from the applicability of the ordinance in question 
to their expenditure ; but, on the contrary, in their judgment, it 
would be productive of great satisfaction. The Committee then 
proceeded to state the expenditures of the Overseers, during the 
last current year, to have been upwards of thnty thousand dol- 
lars, arranged under four general heads : — 1. Salaries and sums 
paid for professional services. 2. Payments made to insane 
hospitals and other towns. 3. Payments of out of door grants 
and pensions. 4. Payments for articles and provisions purchased 
for the house. As to the first, amounting to near fom* thousand 
dollars, the Overseers could not be subjected to greater inconve- 
nience than that to which other salaried officers were, who are 
paid by bills certified by the chairman of the committee of the 
board making the contract. It was obviously expedient that a 
similar principle should be applied to all accounts for salaries. 
Indeed the chief objection of the Overseers to the requisition 
seemed to be the trouble it would occasion them. As to 
the second head, amounting to upwards of twenty-five hun- 
dred doUars, the Committee apprehended no great inconve- 
nience could arise after an account was liquidated and the 
balance struck, for the account to be certified by the chair- 
man of the board that passed it. The objection made was, 
that the Overseers would be subjected to unnecessary trouble to 
go to the office of the auditor, in case of any necessity of recur- 
rence to those accounts. This inconvenience, the Committee 
apprehended, would be counterbalanced by the gi'cat public con- 
venience and security, from having all the public accounts of all 
the expending individuals and boards deposited in one office, in 
one systematic arrangement, under the direct superintendence of 
a committee of the City Council. As to the thkd head of pay- 



142 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

mcnts, amounting to upwards of eight thousand dollars, all that 
would be required was, that a list of the names of all the pen- 
sioners, or those to whom gi-ants were made, should be ti'ansmit- 
ted, certified by the Chairman of the Overseers, that they have 
been allowed by vote of the Board. And as to weekly distiibu- 
tions of the Overseers in the wards, all that would be required 
was, a statement of an account by the expending overseer, speci- 
fying the names of the person relieved, and a certificate of the 
Chakman of the Overseers, that the account had been passed by 
the Board. It was objected by the Overseers, that giving publi- 
city to the name of the person relieved, might sometimes occa- 
sion pain to such person. The Committee, however, were of 
opinion, that it was the rig'ht of socieiij to know how the ]5ublic 
moneys are in such cases applied. Poverty, when it is not the 
consequence of vice or crime, is no disgrace ; when it is the con- 
sequence of either, it is not entitled to the consideration which 
the objection implies. As to the fourth head, amounting to 
nearly fifteen thousand dollars, the payments made under it are, 
in every respect, precisely similar to those of other city expendi- 
tures, and there can be no reason why they sliould not be subject 
to the same system of accountability. The Directors of the 
House of Industry, whose relations to the city and responsibili- 
ties are altogether similar to those of the Overseers (except only 
that they have no discretionary power to disburse money out 
of the house) find no embarrassment from the provisions of the 
ordinance, and the Committee declared their opinion that the 
experiment in its effects would result in being a gi'eat satisfac- 
tion to the Overseers of the Poor, instead of an annoyance. 

The reluctance thus exhibited by the Overseers of the Poor to be 
subjected to the same principles of accountability which the City 
Council had established, with regard to all boards and individu- 
als who had the expenditures of public moneys, made a deep 
impression upon the minds of the Committee. This w^as strength- 
ened by their unyielding opposition to the removal of the poor 
to the institution at South Boston, after the urgent solicitation 
of the Committee for such removal, expressed in then* letter of 
the twenty-fifth of June preceding; although there were only 
eiglit// in the class of sick and maniacs out of more than three 
hundred inmates then in the Almshouse. The great majority 
of these they alleged were not capable of labor and not suited to 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 143 

the mode of relief provided for them in the House of Industry, and 
accordingly refused to assent to the transfer of more than forty. 
These they discharged in the mode they before adopted, and of 
this number only thirtij-tico could be persuaded to go to South 
Boston. It was also soon ascertained that several of these pau- 
pers, who, after having been discharged by the Overseers, had 
refused to go to the House of Industry, and others who had run 
away from that establishment, wholesome restraint being unsuited 
to their idle and vicious habits, had been again received into the 
Almshouse in Leverett Street, without any notice being given to 
the Directors of the House of Industry and the City Council. 

These proceedings were so destructive of the discipline of this 
institution, that the Committee resolved, on the fourth of Sep- 
tember, to make a final attempt to effect, if possible, a transfer 
of those inmates ; and accordingly on that day, had, for that pur- 
pose, an interview with the Overseers of the Poor, and received 
from them a statement that there were one hundred and forty' 
four adults and ninety-nine children in the Almshouse, who were 
neither sick nor maniacs. And when the Committee deemed it 
then* duty to require the concurrence of the Overseers in the trans- 
fer of those paupers to the House of Industry, to their surprise 
that Board, on the tenth of November, passed a vote refusing to 
concur in the transfer of any of this gix>at number, for the reason 
that " they were not, in the opinion of the Overseers, in a condi- 
tion to be discharged from their care and oversight." 

The Committee which had been appointed on this subject, on 
the seventeenth of June, 1824, therefore communicated these 
facts to the City Council on the fifteenth of November, and, 
without making any comment on this refusal, declared their 
opinion that " the whole course of proceedings of the Overseers 
of the Poor, in relation to the House of Industry and the Alms- 
house, as well as the great amount of the cash expenditures of 
that Board, and the obstacles they had thrown in the way of 
their accountability to the City Council, strongly indicated the 
necessity and duty of the City Council to obtain, if possible, 
that the subject of the poor should be placed on a different foot- 
ing than that which at present exists under the laws of the Com- 
monwealth ; that the experience of two years had evinced that 
a constant succession of embarrassments had obstructed the 
attempts of the City Council to produce that amelioration in the 



144 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

condition of ihe poor, and that limitation of the expenditures of 
that department which was originally intended by the wisdom 
of the citizens of Boston, Avhen they laid the foundations of the 
House of Industry ; " and they " suggested to the City Council 
the duty of inquiring whether these embarrassments are not 
inseparable from the incompatibility of the powers existing in, 
or claimed by the Overseers, when brought into connection with 
the powers and authorities now^ unquestionably vested by the 
charter of the city in the City Council ; " that " by the theoiry 
of this charter, the branches which combine its legislative and 
executive powers, are competent for the management of all the 
concerns of the city, and among these the care of the poor, one 
of the most important in point of expense, and one of the most 
critical in point of interest. By the theory of the Board of Over- 
seers this great concern is thrown into the hands of twelve men, 
chos(>n in wards, without much reference to the greatness of the 
pecuniary trust, and still less to the extent of their claimed pow- 
ers. Thus, for instance, this Board has, according to their claims, 
a right to expend what they please, on whom they please, and 
how they please ; sometimes supporting paupers in the house, 
and sometimes out of the house ; sometimes paying them by 
monthly and quarterly drafts on the treasury ; sometimes paying 
them l^y cash out of their own pockets, and charging the amount 
in a weekly or monthly settlement ; and in these ways there 
actually passes through their hands annually from thirty to forty 
thousand dollars." The Committee in this statement did not 
include the great annual expenditure of the incomes of eleemo- 
synary funds, amounting, as is asserted, to a capital of more than 
one hundred thousand dollars, over which the Overseers claimed 
entire control, and were reluctant authoritatively to give publicity 
to the exact amount. The Committee, after further commenting 
on the exti-eme inconvenience and inexpediency of this state of 
things, recommended that a Committee of both branches should 
be appointed, and instructed to consider and report at large on 
the suliject. This report was accepted, and the INIayor, Alder- 
men Odiorne, Child, and Eddy, and the President, (Oliver) and 
Messrs. Savage, E. Williams, Prouty, and Curtis, of the Com- 
mon Council, were accordingly appointed to consider the general 
relations of the Overseers of the Poor and the city, and report 
the measures which ought to be adopted on the subject. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 145 

This Committee, on the twenty-ninth of November, made a 
report exhibiting the incompatibility of the existing relations 
between the Overseers of the Poor and the City Council with the 
interests of the city, and recommending that the whole subject 
should be submitted to a general meeting of the citizens, and 
proposing measures which, if sanctioned by them, would termi- 
nate these collisions of authority.^ To the end, also, that if a 
board assuming a qualified independence of the City Council 
should afterwards be permitted to exist, it should be the result 
of the voluntary act of the citizens, and should not be attributa- 
ble to any shrinking from, or dereliction of duty on the part of 
the City Council. 

The report was accepted unanimously in both branches of the 
City Council, and six thousand copies were printed and imme- 
diately distributed throughout the city. A meeting of the in- 
habitants was then called for the sixteenth of December ensu- 
ing. At this meeting very warm and exciting debates occurred, 
occupying the whole morning, and resulting, after several poll- 
ings, in a rejection of the measures proposed by the City Coun- 
cil, by a majority of only thirty-one, in an assembly casting ei^ht 
hundred votes. The proceedings were then so far reconsidered, 
as to refer the whole subject to a committee of twelve persons, 
who were instructed to call, at their discretion, another general 
meeting of the inhabitants, at which the votes on the report they 
might submit should be taken by ballot. 

This Committee reported at length ; and, after dilating on the 
necessity and importance of the office of overseers of the poor 
from " the fact, that overseers of the poor are by law trustees of 
various legacies and donations to certain descriptions of poor, 
then amounting to ninety thousand dollars, the income of which, 
the donors, confiding in the humanity, prudence, and integrity 
of the acting overseers of then day, and justly inferring that the 
good sense of the people would lead them to elect similar cha- 
racters as successors in after times, have at various periods placed 
at the disposal of the overseers so chosen, to be applied in most 
cases to such as had seen better days, and were not resident in 
the Almshouse nor partakers of the public bounty in other 
ways," proceeded to declare then opinion, that " the election of 

1 See Appendix K. 
13 



146 MUMCIPAL HISTORY. 

the overseers by the people is not only conformable to the wishes 
of the citizens, but an ancient practice, which circumstances do 
not requke them to reUnquish." In conformity with this opi- 
nion, the Committee recommended to the citizens for their adop- 
tion, resolutions declaring the inexpediency of complying with 
the propositions submitted to them by the City Covmcil. The 
Committee then appointed the nineteenth of May ensuing for a 
general meeting of the citizens, to take into consideration thek 
report. 

On the eighteenth of November, the Directors of the House 
of Industry again reported to the City Council the state of the 
institution, congratulated the public on its success, and expressed 
their sti-ong hopes that great and lasting good would result from 
it to the morals and interests of the city, and repeated their 
urgency for an appropriation of five thousand dollars for the 
erection of a stockade fence, as being advantageous to the present 
institution, and essential to a house of correction. The appro- 
priation required was immediately granted by the City Council. 

The sale of the Almshouse in Leverett Street, in March, 1825, 
at length put an end to the controversy relative to the transfer 
of the poor. 

The Committee which had effected the sale declared that no 
delay ought to occur, in compliance with their stipulations rela- 
tive to clearing the house in Leverett Street of all its inmates ; 
and on their recommendation, two resolves were passed by the 
City Council, directing all the paupers to be removed to South 
Boston, on or before the fifteenth of April ensuing, and the mem- 
bers of the former Committee on the subject of the transfer of 
the poor to the House of Industry were appointed to have an 
interview with the Overseers, wdth authority to make such 
transfer. Accordingly, before that day, the house in Leverett 
Street was cleared of its inmates, in conformity with the re- 
solve of the City Council; and, on a petition of the Over- 
seers of the Poor, they assigned the southeast chamber of the 
second story in Faneuil Hall to that board, as a place for their 
meeting and a deposit of their records. On the eighteenth of 
April, the Committee charged ^dth the transfer of the poor 
to South Boston reported to the City Council that it had 
been effected, and tiuo hundred and nine individuals had been 
removed, making the number now in the House of Industry 



CITY GOVERXMENT. 147 

tico hundred and eighty-one ; and that all the inmates, particu- 
larly the aged and respectable females, whose comfort and ac- 
commodation deserved particularly to be considered, expressed 
to the Committee theu content and gi'atitude for the change, 
and their regret that it had been so long delayed. The City 
Council, therefore, after all the difficulties with which they had 
long contended, had the great pleasure and satisfaction of be- 
holding their labors, with regard to the House of Industry, 
crowned with complete success. 

On the sLxteenth of September, 1824, the Mayor announced 
to the City Council the death of Alderman Hooper, a lawyer of 
great promise, who, by his talents and vutues, had obtained an 
extensive local influence, which, during the short period he was 
suffered to remain in public life, he had successfully applied to 
the advancement of the best interests of the city. A resolve was 
immediately passed, expressing deep sympathy with his family, 
and a committee appointed to make anangements for the City 
Council to attend the funeral, and to recommend such marks of 
respect as were justly due to his virtues, talents, and public ser- 
vices. 

In November, the vacancy in the Board of Aldermen, which 
this event occasioned, was supplied by the election of Cyrus 
Alger. 

In March, 1824, the representatives of two political parties, came 
before the Mayor and Aldermen, each claiming the use of Faneuil 
Hall on the evening preceding an election, under circumstances 
which deeply excited the feelings of both. After much deliberation 
that Board determined that the right should no longer depend upon 
the priority of application, but hereafter by alternation ; and that 
the claims of the two parties for the ensuing election, being 
nearly equal, should be decided by ballots, prepared by the City 
Clerk in their presence ; it being declared, that the unsuccessful 
party should have a right to the Hall on the evening of the next 
succeeding election. In this decision the representatives of the 
contending parties acqu.iesced. 

On the nineteenth April, 1824, the joint Committee on quaran- 
tine regulations, of which the Mayor was chairman, reported, 
that, by the city charter, the whole subject relative to quarantine 
was invested in the City Council ; that, in 1822, they had trans- 
ferred those powers to the Board of Health, who had executed 



148 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

them in the character and with the attributes of an independent 
board ; that doubts had arisen concerning the constitutionality 
of that transfer ; and that this arrangement was not consonant 
to the spirit of the city charter, nor justified by its provisions ; 
that those powers were a personal and untransferable trust to 
the City Council ; that, although they must be exercised by the 
agency of others, the body by which they are exercised ought to 
be so organized that its dependence, in every act of its power, 
should be felt and acknowledged, otherwise, the City Council 
have a responsibility without power of control, and the trust of 
the charter is violated or abandoned ; that it was a question of 
gi'eat delicacy and seriousness, worthy of the most anxious con- 
sideration of the City Council, whether the exercise of those 
powers by a board like that of the Commissioners of Health, 
regarding itself as independent, was a fulfilment of the obliga- 
tions, however wise and respectable might be the members of 
that board ; and that, deeming it their duty to propose a different 
organization for the exercise of that trust, the Committee re- 
commended the resolutions of the following general tenor : — 

1. That there should be appointed, in May, annually, health 
commissioners, by concurrent vote of the City Council. 

2. That they should have power to carry into effect aU the 
powers relative to the quarantine of vessels, the health, cleanli- 
ness, and comfort of the city, and the interment of the dead. 

3. That there should be, in like manner, appointed a physician 
for Hospital Island ; and also, in case of infectious diseases, three 
consulting physicians. 

4. That there should be a joint committee annually appointed, 
to prepare rules and regulations and superintend the proceedings 
of the Commissioners ; and, in case of any doubt ■ question, to 
submit the subject for the decision of the City Com. " 

These resolves were adopted in both branches, and t^ i subject 
left for the action of the ensuing City Council. 

Accordingly, on the third of May, in the ensuing city year, 
the Mayor, Aldermen Child, Eddy, and Hooper, with Messrs. 
Russell, IMorse, Adan, Upham, and William Wright, of the 
Common Council, were appointed a committee on that subject ; 
and, in pursuance of the policy recommended by these resolves, 
the agency of the Board of Health was superseded by an ordi- 
nance of the City Council, passed on the thirty -first of May, 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 149 

1824, relative to the police of the city, by which the whole sub- 
ject was placed under the control of a single commissioner, as 
has ah-eady been stated in this work.^ On the same day, a vote 
passed both branches of the city, unanimously expressing their 
thanks to the members of the late Board of Health, for their 
faithful and laborious services. 

The visit of General Lafayette rendered the years 1824 and 
1825 a period of universal jubilee in the United States. Although 
the testimony of delight at his presence, which cities and states 
vied with each other in repeating, belong to the history of the 
nation, yet the proceedings of the municipality of Boston, as the 
triumphal procession swept through its precincts, requires here a 
brief notice and distinct reminiscence. 

In March, 1824, the Mayor, in compliance with a vote of the 
City Council, addi'essed the following letter to Lafayette. 

Boston, U. S. A., 20 March, 1824. 

Sir, — Your intention to visit tlie United States has been made known to its 
citizens by the proceedings of their National Legislature. The city of Boston 
shares in the universal pleasure which the expectation of so interesting an event 
has diffused ; but it has causes of gratification peculiarly its own. Many of its 
inhabitants recollect, and aU have heard of your former residence in this metro- 
polis ; of the delight with which you were here greeted on your second visit to 
this country ; and of the acclamation of a grateful multitude which attended you 
■when sailing from this harbor, on your last departure from the United States ; 
and also of that act of munificence, by which in later times you extended the 
hand of relief in their distress. These circumstances have impressed upon the 
inhabitants of this city a vivid recollection of your person, and a peculiar inte- 
rest in your character, endearing you to their remembrance by sentunents of 
personal gratitude, as well as b}- that sense of national obligation with which the 
citizens of the United States are universally penetrated. 

With feelings of this kind, the City Council of Boston, in accordance with the 
general wish of their constituents, have directed me to ad(h'ess this letter to you, 
and to express the hope that, should it comport with your convenience, you 
would do them the honor to disembai'k in this city, and to communicate the 
assui-ance that no event could possibly be more grateful to its inhabitants ; that 
nowhere could you meet with a more cordial welcome ; that you could find 
nowhere hearts more capable of appreciating your early zeal and sacrifices In the 
cause of American freedom, or more ready to acknowledge and honor that cha- 
racteristic uniformity of virtue, with which through a long life, and in scenes of 
unexampled difficulty and danger, }ou have steadfastly maintained the cause of 
an enlightened civil liberty in both hemispheres. 

Very respectfully, I am your obedient servant, 

JosiAH QurxcY, Mayor of the CiUj of Boston. 

1 See ch. v. p. 73. 
13* 



150 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 



ANSWER OF LAFAYETTE.' 

To the Mayor of tie City of Boston : Paris, May 26, 1824. 

Sir, — Amidst the new and high marks of benevolence the people of the Uni- 
ted States and their representatives have lately deigned to confer upon me, I am 
proud and happy to recognize those particular sentiments of the citizens of Bos- 
ton which have blessed and dehghted the first years of my public career, and 
the grateful sense of which has ever since been to me a most valued reward and 
support. I joyfully anticipate the day, not very remote, thank God, when I 
may revisit the glorious cradle of American, and, in future, I hope, of universal 
liberty. Your so honorable and gratifying invitation would have been directly 
complied with In the case to which you allude. But while I profoundly felt the 
honor intended b}- the offer of a national ship, I hope I shaU incur no blame by 
the determination I have taken to embark, as soon as it is in my power, in a pri- 
vate vessel. "Whatever port I first attain, I shall, with the same eagerness, 
hasten to Boston, and present to its beloved and revered inhabitants, as I have 
the honor to offer to the City Council and to you, sir, the homage of my affec- 
tionate gratitude and devoted respect. Lafayette. 

General Lafayette landed at New York on the sixteenth of 
August, 1824, amidst those demonstrations of interest and grati- 
tude, which every heart and hand in the United States was pre- 
pared to reiterate; and on the twentieth he left that city for 
Boston, under a military escort. During the whole course of his 
journey, he received continued evidences of general delight. 
From the lines of Massachusetts he was attended by the Aids of 
Governor Eustis, and was received by him at his seat in Rox- 
bury, on the evening of the twenty-third. On the succeeding 
morning, seated in a barouche the city had provided, he was 
escorted by a cavalcade of more than a thousand citizens to the 
lines of Boston, where he was met by the city authorities in car- 
riages, with a large military escort, and was thus addressed by 
the Mayor, standing in the barouche, in which were seated the 
Committee of the City Council. 

General Lafayette, — The citizens of Boston welcome you on your 
return to the United States ; mindful of jour early zeal in the cause of Ameri- 
can independence, grateful for your distinguished share in the perils and glories 
of its achievement, '\^'hen, urged by a generous sympathy, you first lauded on 
these shores, you found a people engaged In an arduous and eventful struggle 
for liberty, with apparently inadequate means and amidst dubious omens. After 
the lapse of nearly half a century, you find the same people prosperous beyond 
all hope and all precedent ; their liberty secure, sitting in their strength, without 
fear and without reproach. 

In your youth you joined the standard of three millions of people, raised in an 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 151 

uncertain and unequal combat. In your advanced age you return, and arc met 
hy ten millions of people, their descendants, who greet your approach and 
rejoice in it. This is not the movement of a turbulent populace, excited by 
the first laurels of some recent conqueror. It is a grave, moral, intellectual 
impulse. 

A -whole people in the enjo}Tnent of freedom as perfect as the condition of our 
nature permits, recur with gratitude, increasing with the daily increasing sense 
of their blessings, to the memory of those, who by theii' labors and in their blood 
laid the foundation of our liberties. 

Your name, sir, the name of Lafayette, is associated with the most perilous 
and most glorious periods of our Revolution — with the imperishable names of 
"Washington and of that numerous host of heroes who adorn the proudest 
archives of American history, and are engraven in indelible traces on the hearts 
of the whole Amei'ican people. Accept then, in the sincere spirit in which it is 
offered, this simple tribute to your virtues. 

Again, sir, the citizens of Boston bid you welcome to the cradle of American 
independence and to scenes consecrated with the blood shed by the earUest mar- 
tyrs in the cause. 

REPLY OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 

To the Mayor and People of Boston : 

The emotions of love and gratitude which I have been accustomed to feel on 
my entering this city, have ever mingled with a sense of religious reverence for 
the cradle of American, and let us hope it will be hereafter said, of universal 
liberty. 

AMiat must be my feelings, sir, at the blessed moment, when, after so long an 
absence, I find myself again surrounded by the good citizens of Boston. "WTien 
I am so affectionately, so honorably welcomed, not only by old friends, but by 
several successive generations ; when I can witness the prosperity, the immense 
improvements that have been the just reward of a noble struggle, virtuous morals, 
and truly republican institutions. 

I beg of you, Mr. Mayor, Gentlemen of the Citj- Council, and all of you, 
beloved citizens of Boston, to accept the respectful and warm thanks of a heart 
which has, for nearly half a century, been particularly devoted to your illustrious 
city. 

The Mayor then took a seat with Lafayette. 

The entrance of Lafayette into the city was announced by 
raising the American flag on the cupola of the State House and 
on Dorchester Heights, from whence a salute of one hundred and 
one guns was fired. The streets were profusely decorated ; 
arches with appropriate mottoes were raised in Washington 
Street ; and during his progress, for more than three miles, all 
the bells of the city were rung, and he was welcomed by more 
than seventy thousand inhabitants of the city and its vicinity. 
Every roof, \\dndow, balcony, and steeple, was put in requisition 
by the excited multitude, which, by its throng, often impeded 



152 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the progress of the barouche. The day was cloudless, cool, and 
serene, and every cu-cumstance propitious to general enjoyment. 
On the Common, Lafayette passed through two lines formed by 
several thousand children, pupils of the public schools, attired in 
uniform, and each wearing his portrait stamped upon a ribbon. 
From the State House, where his reception by the Governor was 
announced by a national salute from the Common, he was 
escorted to the mansion at the corner of Beacon and Park 
Streets, which had been obtained and furnished for his resi- 
dence, during his visit, by the city authorities; and he after- 
wards attended a public dinner given by them in his honor. 
During the week of his continuance in the city, he was escorted 
by the Mayor and a Committee of the City Council, to visit 
every object of interest within and around the city, and no testi- 
mony of respect and gratitude was omitted. 

On the thirty-first of August, the Mayor accompanied Lafay- 
ette, on his departure for New Hampshire, to the lines of Boston 
on Charles River Bridge, where he was received by the aids of 
the Governor of the Commonwealth and an escort of cavalry. 

At parting, he requested the Mayor to assure the citizens of 
Boston that " it was impossible for words to do justice to the 
emotions excited in his heart by the distinguished kindness and 
honor with which he had been welcomed by them ; that they 
would ever be associated with his most precious recollections ; 
and that he warmly reciprocated then- expressions of respect and 
regard." 

On the second of September, when Lafayette returned from 
New Hampshire, an elegant entertainment was given him at his 
residence in Park Street by the City Council. Lafayette pre- 
sided at the table, and they dined with him apparently as his 
guests ; and this gratifying arrangement formed an appropriate 
conclusion to the attention and tiibutes he received from the city 
government of Boston. 



CHAPTER XL 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824-1825. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

State of the Fire Department — Claims of the Engine Companies — The 
Eesult — They surrender their Engines and resign — Other Engine Compa- 
nies fonned — A new Organization of the Fire Department 1-ecommended — 
]\Ieasures taken to carry it into effect — Office of Auditor of Accounts esta- 
blished. 

During the first year of the second administration of the city 
government, the City Council were restrained by obstacles, appa- 
rently insurmountable, from any attempt to improve the then 
existing system of protection against fire, although great changes 
in it were evidently requisite, Firewards, engine, and hook and 
ladder men, with associated friendly fire companies, constituted 
the fire police. Their efficiency chiefly depended upon the aid 
of the inhabitants, applied under the authority of the firewards. 
They formed lanes of bystanders, who, by their direction, passed 
buckets of water, from pumps or wells in the vicinity, to the 
engines playing on the fire, and returned them for further 
supply. 

This system of protection had its origin in the relations of 
the colonial state, when the inhabitants were few, habituated to 
labor, and respect for the rights of property was general. Dwell- 
ing-houses being then separated by gardens or vacant fields, 
extensive conflagrations were infrequent ; yet, being of wood, 
and the means of insurance unattainable, their occasional loss 
kept alive the feeling of sympathy in the community. The duty 
of joining some fire company and assisting at every fire was, 
therefore, regarded as imperious. 

At the time of the adoption of the city government, Boston 
was in a transition state, and fast advancing to that period, 
when, by the increase of population, ties of individual interest 
were diminished. The establishment of insurance oflSces had, 
in most cases, transferred the loss upon capitalists ; and poverty 
and crime, multiplying with numbers, began to regard fires as 



154 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

harvests, from the gleaning of which they had not principle 
enough to abstain. 

Although this state of things was obvious, and its effects 
began to be felt, yet it was long before the duty of aiding the 
sufferers caused the necessity of imposing restraint on the general 
interference of the citizens at fbes to be recognized. Tiiis reluct- 
ance to acknowledge the effect of circumstances on the then 
existing system of protection, was peculiarly strong among the 
engine companies, in whom the esprit de corps was active and 
general. From the earliest period of the settlement, the mem- 
bers of these companies had been accustomed to regard them- 
selves as the guardians of the city against this element, and took 
a pride in the consciousness of theh' power. They were a body 
of men energetic and fearless. So far from regarding their labors 
as onerous and looking for their reward in pecuniary compensa- 
tion, a premium was often paid for admission into the compa- 
nies, and they deemed themselves recompensed by a small allow- 
ance from the town, sufficient for an annual social supper, by 
exemption from militia duties, and the consciousness of useful 
and acceptable services to their fellow townsmen. Their engines, 
found and supported by the town, were without ornament, and 
valued only for their power. To be first, nearest, and most con- 
spicuous at fires, was the ambition of the engine men ; and the 
use of hose, as it had a tendency to deprive them of this gi'atifi- 
cation, was opposed. The hostility to any change which should 
induce its use, was apparently general. The opinion of the effi- 
ciency of the then existing system was riveted in the belief, and 
fortified by the pride of the engine companies. To doubt it, 
involved with them an inevitable loss of popularity ; and the 
introduction of a hose system was ridiculed and regarded as use- 
less. Although the citizens in general did not coincide in the 
opinion of the engine companies, and perceived the difficulties of 
the subject, they were far from being unanimous relative to the 
improvement the state of the department required. The City 
Council, therefore, determined to defer until a more favorable 
moment the desired alterations ; and the Mayor prepared for 
changes which he deemed inevitable, by entering into con-espond- 
ence with leading members of the fire departments of New York 
and Philadelphia, whose systems of protection were reported to 
him as highly efficient. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 155 

The fire department was brought under the consideration of 
the City Council in June, 1823, by a petition of several engine 
companies for an additional compensation for their services. 
The Committee to whom it was refei-red, reported that the remu- 
neration already allowed was sufTicient, and gave them leave to 
withdraw it. The acceptance of this report gave the petitioners 
great dissatisfaction ; and the Mayor soon received notice from 
the captains of some of the companies that they would never be 
content with then' present allowance, but that at a proper season 
they w^ould renew their apphcation. The Mayor understood, 
from the terms of this notice, that this renewal would be made 
in the winter, when then' services were most important and 
arduous, and when, therefore, it would be most difficult to 
supply substitutes. The City Council consequently, immediately 
turned their attention to the present organization, efficiency, and 
equipments of the engine companies, the inducements given to 
join them, and the power of the fu-ewards. These investigations 
increased their dissatisfaction, and presented new difficulties. 
The citizens complained that the ffi-ewards did not exercise their 
authority, despotic for the emergency, with the same energy as 
their predecessors. The firewards asserted that the citizens no 
longer aided them in their duties, by becoming members of the 
fire companies ; and that while the classes of population dis- 
posed to be inactive or to depredate at fires increased, those who 
were wiUing to assist were much lessened. It was, therefore, 
more dii5cult to form lanes to supply the engines, and impossi- 
ble to support them for any length of time. The multiplication 
of insurance offices, also, by diminishing the losses of the suffer- 
ers, weakened the sense of obligation to risk life and health for 
their relief. The engine companies were also equally loud in 
their complaints. The increase of population and extent of the 
city had rendered alarms more numerous and made distances 
greater. They were often obliged, from a deficiency of water, 
to di-ag their engines some hundred feet from the ffi-e to the 
pump, and then back again, with the loss of half of the water 
obtained. In this labor and in that of working engines, the 
citizens were not as w^illing to aid as formerly. Admission 
into the engine companies was, indeed, yet regarded as a pri- 
vilege, for which from five to eigM doUars was paid by each 
candidate. The companies were accustomed to have four sup- 



156 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

pers in a year, which exhausted their fees, fines, premiums, 
and allowance from the city. The fines for failure in the mili- 
tia service had been so reduced, that exemption from it was 
no longer a powerful inducement to enter the engine compa- 
nies. Four hundred and sixty men were their full complement, 
but only three hundred and tiventy were enrolled, and conse- 
quently not one company had its full complement, and one had 
but twelve members. The city owned sixteen fire engines, but 
only fourteen were in service. A few of them were of gi'eat 
power, but in general they were ordinary in appearance and 
workmanship. Only eight hundred feet of hose belonged to all 
the companies collectively. Of these each engine had its pro- 
portion for its sole use ; and as the screws were not adapted to 
each other, to act in a conjoined line was impracticable; 

Although these facts were well known, no general dissatisfac- 
tion existed ; and it was dangerous for any man's reputation for 
sense or patriotism to question the axiom that there was no 
place whose inhabitants were more distinguished for alacrity and 
success in extinguishing fii-es than in Boston. The members of 
the engine companies, who held most firmly this opinion, were 
skilful, alert, and vigorous men, experienced in the service and 
attached to it, and so confident of then- ability and popularity, 
that several of them said to the Committee that if the companies 
resigned, no individuals could be found in the city willing and 
able to take charge of the engines. All acknowledged that fires 
were more destructive than formerly ; but this was attributed 
not to any defect in the system, but to the want of cooperation 
among the citizens. The remedies proposed and urged were, 
to revive the ancient volunteer fire companies, to enlarge the sup- 
ply of buckets, and vest gi'cater authority in firewards. The pro- 
posal of a fire department which should exclude, instead of com- 
pelling the assistance of citizens, was received with indignation. 
" Do you think, sir," said one of the captains of the engines, 
" that the citizens of Boston will ever submit to be prohibited 
from assisting a fellow townsman in distress. Such sort of laws 
may be obeyed in despotic countries, or in cities where the inha- 
bitants do not feel for one another ; but this is not the case, nor 
ever will be in Boston. No such system can ever be introduced 
into this city." When the advantages of the hose system were 
suggested, it was answered, that it was practicable in Philadel- 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 157 

phia, from the abundance and easy command of water; but 
Boston possessed no such facilities. When it was stated in 
reply, that in New York the want of a sufficient head of water 
was supplied by stationing engines at intervals between the 
water and the fire, which, by playing into each other successively, 
enabled the nearest to throw a continuous stream upon the fire. 
The answer of one of the captains was characteristic of the state 
of the existing prejudices on the subject. " Set enginemen at a 
distance from the fire ! It wiU never be submitted to. Their 
desire is always to be in the hottest of the battle. The nearer 
the fire the higher the post of honor. Their struggle is, who 
shall get to it the first, and who keep the nearest. It would be 
more difficult to keep a Boston engine back, in order to play into 
its neighbor, than it would be to put out the fire." Many thought- 
ful and intelligent citizens had also doubts concerning the effi- 
ciency of the hose system ; and the City Council concluded, 
after much deliberation, that it was most prudent to postpone 
for a timje attempts to introduce improvements obnoxious to so 
many prejudices. 

During the year 1823, the whole damage received by the city 
from fires did not amount to five thousand dollars. And this 
uncommon exemption from calamity, by diminishing the appre- 
hension of danger, delayed expenditm'es for protection. 

On the seventeenth of September, 1823, the engine compa- 
nies renewed their petition, demanded the usual premiums for the 
first and second engines which arrived at the fire, and an annual 
compensation of fifty dollars for each company, to be disposed 
of at their discretion. The Committee to whom this petition 
was referred, were the Mayor, Aldermen Odiorne and Eddy, 
with Messrs. E. Williams, Oliver, Adan, and Wales, of the 
Common Council. They had frequent interviews with the cap- 
tains and leading members of the several companies ; but the 
cu-curastances of the department, and the temper and language 
in which their claims were urged, made the course to be pursued 
very difficult. The season of the year and that which was 
approaching, were those in which any knoAvn general derange- 
ment of the engine companies would occasion gi'eat alarm 
among the citizens. The members of those companies had 
been long in the service of the city. Great confidence was 
attached to their experience. By many, the safety of the city 
14 



158 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

was deemed to be essentially dependent on their continuance. 
In their opinion the engine companies were composed of a class 
of citizens whose claims it was unsafe to deny, and in whatever 
spirit demanded they ought to be granted. 

The claims of these companies were, in fact, pressed in terms 
indicating then- belief that the city could not dispense with 
their services. The Committee of the City Council were told 
plainly, that unless their petition was granted, they would una- 
nimously resign their engines. On being asked, whether the 
companies will not be satisfied with less i\\di\\ fifty dollars each, 
the reply of one of the captains was, " No. We are fixed on 
that point. Forty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents will not do I" 
After this evidence of feeling and opinion, a majority of the 
Committee came to the conclusion that any grant made under 
such circumstances would be considered as an " acknowledg- 
ment of the dependence of the city upon the individuals who 
then composed those companies, be attributed to fear, and be 
only a temporary expedient and a source of futm-e embarrass- 
ment; that the permanent safety of a city should never be 
allowed to be regarded as dejjendent on the capricious estimate 
of their own importance by any set of men ; but that general 
confidence should be permitted to rest on no other basis than the 
conviction that there exists always among the- mass of its citi- 
zens talents and will adequate to self-protection. 

The Committee, therefore, on the twenty-fourth of November 
made a report, which was accepted by the City Council, that it 
was not expedient to gi-ant the prayer of the petitioners, the pre- 
sent exemptions and compensations being a sufficient remunera- 
tion. 

In anticipation of possible difficulty, however, the Aldermen 
immediately instituted inqukies in their several wards, and ascer- 
tained that the citizens generally coincided in the views of the 
city authorities on these claims, and that if the present compa- 
nies surrendered their engines, others might be formed without 
difficulty. 

The City Council, however, being unwilfing wholly to reject 
the petition of the engine companies, on the sixth of November, 
appointed another committee, consisting of the Mayor, Alder- 
men Patterson, Eddy, and Hooper, with Messrs. Swett, Wins- 
low, Wright, Tappan, and Adan, of the Common Council, who, 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 159 

on the twenty-fourth of that month, made an elaborate report, 
embracing all the topics of controversy, and after doing full just- 
ice to the efficiency of the engine companies, proceeded to show 
that their present compensation and privileges were greater than 
those granted to the engine companies of New York, who found 
no difficulty in keeping their numbers full. To show, however, 
the appreciation of the City Council of the services of the Bos- 
ton enginemen, the Committee proposed to increase the pre- 
miums of the first and second companies which should arrive 
earliest at a fire, and an annual allowance of twenty-five dollars 
to each company, to be used at their discretion, which should 
have on the first of January in each year a complement of twenty 
members. This report was accepted in both branches. 

When this result was announced to the companies, their cap- 
tains came before the Mayor, and gave notice that they should 
deliver up their engines and resign their offices at their respective 
engine houses on Lhe first day of the ensuing December. 

Accordingly, at the horn* assigned on that day, the captain of 
each company, at his engine house, delivered its keys, his engine 
and apparatus, all in good order, to members of the Board of 
^Vldermen, who attended to receive them, and who immediately 
delivered them into the custody of able and active bodies of citi- 
zens, who had volunteered their services on the emergency. On 
the evening of the same day the Mayor announced to the City 
Council, that the fire department of the city was in its usual 
state of efficiency, and, in the course of the month of December, 
engine companies were organized in connection with every 
engine. 

Such was the system of protection against fires at the end of 
the second year of the city. These arrangements were the best 
the state of public feeling and private interest would admit. The 
Mayor regarded them as temporary ; and, being convinced that 
a radical change must be effected in the whole system, he con- 
tinued the correspondence he had opened with the chief mem- 
bers of the fire departments of Philadelphia and New York, to 
satisfy his own mind on the true principles on which an efficient 
organization of a system of protection on this subject should be 
estabfished. 

The same general views concerning the inefficiency of the ex- 
isting system were also entertained by the members of the City 



160 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Council, and had been confirmed and made evident to the citi- 
zens by a conflagration in Beacon Street, on the seventh of July 
preceding, which continued through the whole day, and con- 
sumed fifteen valuable dwelling-houses, the loss being estimated 
at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of furniture. 

The inefficiency of the fire department seemed now to be gene- 
rally felt and acknowledged ; but no evidence was given of such 
dissatisfaction with the existing system as to justify an attempt 
to change it altogether. The old complaints, against the fire- 
wards, of the want of fire companies and of buckets, and of the 
indiflference of citizens,^ were reiterated, and the old remedies 
proposed. The diversity of opinion on this subject, and the 
force of prejudice was so gi*eat, that an attempt to introduce any 
efficient measures for a change of system was still deemed hope- 
less, until the seventh of April, 1825, when a conflagration occur- 
red in Doane Street, and extended from State Street to Central 
Street on the one side, and from Broad Sh'eet to Kilby and 
Liberty Streets on the other, destroying in the course of a few 
hom-s fifty-three houses and stores, at a loss of half a million of 
dollars. The scene, on this occasion, was one of extreme em- 
barrassment and confusion. The lanes, formed by the firewards 
with great difficulty, were soon broken or deserted, and great 
depredations were committed on property, brought forth indiscri- 
minately and left unprotected in the streets. From the want of 
water, the engines were dragged one thousand feet to the dock, 
and half the w^ater obtained was lost before they could be drag- 
ged back again and put into operation. 

This calamity made a deep impression upon the citizens. The 
want of water, and of the means to bring a continuous stream 
of it on the flames, were apparent ; and it became evident, that 
the change in the habits and sympathies of the population, and 
the recent and increasing infusion of foreigners, rendered a change 
in the organization of a system of defence against fire and a 
more efficient police essential. 

The Mayor deemed this a favorable opportunity to exert offi- 
cial influence for the introduction of an independent fire depart- 
ment; and, under the sanction of a Committee of the City 
Council, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Baxter, Odiorne, 

1 See p. 155. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 161 

and Patterson, with Messrs. Goddard, S. K. Williams, Frothing- 
ham, Haskell, and William Wright, of the Common Council, 
made, in April, 1825, a report, stating the causes of the existing 
deficiencies in the system of defence, and the diversity of opinion 
concerning the remedies, each of which were analyzed and ex- 
plained. Among these, reliance upon associated fire companies 
and the aid of the citizens, although, at the time, of all others 
the most popular and generally acceptable, the report represented 
as altogether mistaken ; and that it would be encouraging false 
hopes and a false system, if the Committee did not declare their 
opinion concerning its inadequacy to protection, and did not 
express themselves decidedly in favor of introducing a supply of 
water to the engines through the means of hose, instead of by 
lanes formed of bystanders. The report then submitted eight 
resolutions for the adoption of the City Council ; the four first 
of which had for their object to satisfy their fellow-citizens, by 
actual experiment, of the impracticability of reviving the ancient 
system of fire companies. To test the possibility of this resort, 
the resolutions proposed an invitation to householders and other 
citizens, to form themselves into societies for their mutual pro- 
tection against fire ; and a system of organizing such societies, 
under the sanction of the Mayor and Aldermen, and prescribed 
the number of buckets, fire bags, and other instruments usual and 
proper for the service, which each company should provide ; and 
the authority which the members of such companies should 
exercise at fires ; with an assurance that the City Council would 
apply to the State Legislature to invest them with all requisite 
powers. This scheme, although carefully devised, when pro- 
posed to the citizens, proved an absolute failure. For, although 
some associations were formed, the attempt evidenced the utter 
hopelessness of any such reliance. Three of the remaining reso- 
lutions proposed the constructing of three reservoirs in suitable 
places, each containing twenty-five thousand gallons of water; 
the purchase of two engines, in New York and Philadelphia, of 
approved power and construction ; and also a hydraulion,^ with 
the usual quantity of hose attached to each form of engine, as 
practised in those cities. The last and eighth resolution declared 
the expediency of adopting a new organization of the fire de- 

^ A small engine, -with one cliamber, used for forcing water through hose, as 
a supply to the engines. 

14* 



162 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

partraent, on the principle of distinct and individual responsi- 
bility; and that a Committee of the City Comicil should be 
appointed, for the purpose of arranging and reporting the details 
of such an organization. 

The City Council adopted all the suggestions of the report, 
and passed the several resolutions it recommended, and appointed 
the Mayor, Aldermen Blake and Welsh, and Messrs. S. K. Wil- 
liams, Barry, Boies, and Wales, a Committee on the eighth reso- 
lution, to an-ange and report the details of a new organization 
of the fire dejjartment. This Committee reported on the twelfth 
of May two resolutions, which were adopted at once by the 
City Council. 

The first declared the expediency of establishing a fire de- 
partment, consisting of one chief engineer, and as many engi- 
neers, firewardens, engine men, hose men, and ho«k and ladder 
men, as may be chosen and appointed by the City Council. 

The second requested the Mayor and Aldermen to apply to 
the Legislature for such powers and authorities, to be vested in 
the fire department, and also such privileges and exemptions 
granted to its members, as may be requisite, and in their wisdom 
deemed expedient. 

The Mayor and Aldermen immediately took measures to have 
tvvo engines, of approved capacity and power, to be built, one in 
Philadelphia, and the other in New York. Gentlemen of skill 
and intelligence, in each city, kindly undertook the superintend- 
ence of their construction ; and the mechanics employed in each 
city, being apprized that their work would be brought into direct 
comparison, under the stimulus of emulation, produced two 
engines, each of which was pronounced by competent judges to 
be equal in power, capacity, and workmanship to any engine in 
either city. Their style of construction, ditlering from those 
used in Boston, gave an opportunity to the mechanics of this 
city to compare, and possibly to improve, the construction of 
their own engines. 

These measures did not pass without animadversion. It was 
inquired, through the press, " whether the mechanics of Boston 
were inferior in skill to those in Philadelphia and New York ? 
and why the money of the city was expended in the patron- 
age of the mechanics of other cities, rather than of its own?" 
But when direct inquiries were made of the Mayor by Boston 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 163 

mechanics themselves, concerning the principles and effects of 
this policy, the explanation given convinced them of its advan- 
tages ; and also, that an entire change in the system of our pro- 
tection against fires would cause expenditm'es ultimately tending 
to their benefit. 

Such were the first steps taken towards the establishment of 
a fire department, to act independently of the general aid of the 
citizens of Boston. At this day, (1851,) after the experience of 
the advantages of the system, it is impossible for any one to 
reahze the extreme antipathy, and even predetermined hostility, 
to the measures, evinced by men in other respects of great judg- 
ment and sagacity. 

Having thus authorized the purchase of two engines and a 
hydrauHon, and the constructing of three reservoirs, each to con- 
tain twenty-five thousand gallons of water, the City CouncU refer- 
red the subject of " the organization of a fire department, on the 
principle of distinct and individual responsibility," to the next 
City Council, the period of a reorganization of the city govern- 
ment being now approaching. 

The inconvenience of leaving city expenditm^es subject to the 
control of several boards, some of whom claimed an independ- 
ence of the City Council, a practice which had been borrowed 
from that of the town government, began to be seriously felt, 
and a change was demanded by the plainest dictates of expedi- 
ency. The Mayor, therefore, in January, 1824, by a special mes- 
sage, recommended to the City Council the consideration of " a 
more systematic accountability for public moneys, arid a more 
efficient check upon the expenditures of the city." A joint Com- 
mittee of the City Council was accordingly appointed on the 
subject, who, in the April following, made a report, stating the 
system of accountability* then practised, representing its un- 
satisfactory nature, and the reasons for the change it recom- 
mended. Four boards were then intrusted with the expenditure 
of public moneys, namely, — the Mayor and Aldermen, the 
Overseers of the Poor, the Commissioners of Health, and the 
Directors of the House of Industry. To each of these various 
sums were advanced, in the form of appropriations, and ex- 
pended by votes of the respective boards, under the agency of 
committees. The members of these committees made the ex- 
penditm-e or the contract, and vouched the bill for the article 



164 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

delivered or the services rendered, including the rate of compen- 
sation or the price. A committee from the board, once in each 
month, examined the account of expenditures of that month, re- 
ceived the vouchers, and, where they agreed, passed the accounts. 
The course of proceeding was very similar in all the boards. 
However well suited such a course might have been in the early 
stage of municipal institutions, when the numbers affected by 
their authorities were small, and the amounts expended incon- 
siderable, the Committee deemed that a more systematic and 
uniform accountability ought to be established to satisfy the 
increasing demands and expenditures of a city rapidly augment- 
ing in wealth and population. 

It seemed to them sufficiently loose and unsatisfactory in 
point of efficient accountability, that the whole city expenditures 
should be made by forty or fifty members of four distinct boards, 
chosen annually for general purposes, with no particular refer- 
ence to their adaptation to the particular class of expenditures 
which they were called upon to superintend. That these indi- 
viduals, acting gi-atuitdusly, without compensation, could not be 
expected to give more than a certain general and occasional 
oversight to the objects on which expenditures were made ; and 
that, of course, they must act chiefly by minor agents, which, as 
they multiplied, necessarily increased the chance of mistake and 
imposition. 

The great defect in this organization, with reference to an effi- 
cient accountability for public moneys was, in the opinion of 
the Committee, the fact, that the accountabihty for the expendi- 
ture of each board was to committees of its own ; in other 
words, the power to expend and the power of calling to account 
was efficiently the same ; an arrangement, which, however in- 
consequential in boards destined for the mere care of property 
and pecuniary investment, must have important consequences 
in boards charged with the oversight of great expenditures, rela- 
tive to objects comprising numerous details, and requiring the 
employment of many subordinate agents. 

The labors of the committee of accounts were lessened by 
dividing the members of the board into monthly committees, of 
a number deemed expedient, — usually two. 

All the members of the board undertook by turns this labor 
and responsibility. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 165 

The consequence was, that there was no such general super- 
intendence as is implied and effected by accountability to one 
practical mind, habituated to the rules and routine of a single 
department. As there was no distinct, uniform rules for pro- 
ceeding, committees were guided by such principles as on the 
instant were deemed applicable. Admissions or rejections thus 
unavoidably often depended upon the particular state or temper 
of mind of the members of the committees. The circumstances 
of the individual were often considered instead of the case ; and 
the results were often very different from what they would have 
been had the same accounts been subjected to the analysis of 
other members of the same board. No stronger evidence could 
be given of the incorrectness of these financial arrangements, 
than the fact that persons having accounts to settle with the city, 
have been known to inquire who the monthly committee of 
accounts were, and to postpone presenting their accounts until 
those they deemed most lilvcly not to sift severely came to exer- 
cise the power. 

The defects of the system then in practice having been thus 
set forth, the Committee proceeded to state the remedy they 
proposed, which consisted in the establishment of an office of 
" auditor of accounts^'' and in tracing an outline of the duties 
and rules to which that office should be subjected. 

This change was deemed too important to be passed with- 
out its being virtually submitted to the decision of the citizens. 
The Committee, therefore, only proposed that it should be 
taken into consideration by the then existing City Council, the 
report to be printed and distributed, recommending the whole 
subject to the attention of its successors ; by whom it was, in 
August, 1824, revived, the office of auditor established, and a 
new system of accountability connected with it. In the same 
month, William Hayden was elected Auditor, and by his great 
ability and efficiency corrected the irregularity incident to the 
former system, and introduced principles for checking the facility 
with which additional appropriations were made, after the annual 
appropriation bills had been passed by the City Council. 

In pursuance of the same general poficy, in February, 1828, 
the City Council adopted a system of self -restriction, having 
for its object to confine the ordinary expenditures of the year 
within the Hmits of the ordinary annual incomes, by passing an 



166 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

order of the following tenor: — " That, in the present and every 
future financial year, after the annual order of appropriations 
shall have been passed, no subsequent expenditvu-e shall be au- 
thorized for any object, unless provision for the same shall be 
made, by expressly creating therefor a city debt ; in the latter of 
which cases, the order shall not be passed, unless two thirds of 
the whole members of each branch of the City Council shall 
vote in the affirmative, by vote taken by yeas and nays." 



CHAPTER XII. 

CITY GOVEHmiENT. 1825. 

JosiAH QuixcY, Blayoi:^ 

The Citizens accept the Report of their General Committee on the inexpediency 
of modifying the powers of the Overseers of the Poor — Overseers decline 
taking Care of the Poor at the House of Industry — Their Kights and Duties 
submitted to Legal Counsel — Their Report, and consequent Proceedings 
of the City Council — Measures to introduce a Supply of Fresh Water — 
Proceedings relative to Faneuil Hall Market — Census of the City — Time 
of Organizing the City Government changed. 

The organization of the city government was this year trans- 
ferred from Faneuil Hail to that of the Chamber of the Com- 
mon Council, and conducted with customary ceremonies. The 
Board of Aldermen consisted entuely of new members ; aU those 
of the preceding year having declined a reelection. 

The Mayor, in his inaugm-al address, after expressing his gra- 
titude to his fellow-citizens for the unanimity of their suffrages, 
and paid a well-deserved tribute to the members of the Board of 
Aldermen of the two preceding years, for their faithful and labo- 
rious ser^'ices,^ directed the attention of the City Council and 
his fellow-citizens to the critical question then pending between 
the Overseers of the Poor and the City Government. After stat- 
ing, in unequivocal terms, the incompatibility with the public inte- 
rest of the existence, under a city organization, of an independent 
Board claiming the right of expending public money without re- 
sponsibility to the city authorities, he explained the effect upon 
the character and confidence in the members of that Board, una- 
voidably resulting from the difference in selecting them, as now 
practised under the city charter, and as was formerly under the 



1 The whole number of votes cast was 1891, of which the Mayor had 1836. 
The members of this Board of Aldermen were George Blake, John Bellows, 

John Bryant, Daniel Carney, John D. Dyer, Josiah Marshall, Henry J. Oliver, 
and Thomas Welsh, Jr. 

2 See Appendix, D. 



168 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

town government. This development he regarded it his duty to 
make, notwithstanding that the report of the Committee,^ ap- 
pointed by a general meeting of the citizens, in opposition to 
those views, was about to be taken into consideration by another 
general meeting of the citizens, to be held on the nineteenth of 
May, then instant ; and no doubt could be entertained that the 
recommendations of that report would be adopted, so conforma- 
ble were they to popular habits and prejudices. The City Coun- 
cil, however, took no measures strenuously to oppose the accept- 
ance of that report. They had effected the removal of the poor 
to tlie House of Industry, and of consequence felt less interest 
in the immediate result. They had conscientiously fulfilled their 
duty to the city, by faithfully explaining to their feUow-citizens 
the nature and consequences of the relations and claims of that 
Board in respect of the interest of the city. Whatever ills or 
difficrdties might hereafter result, could not be attributed to any 
want of firmness or foresight in them. The citizens were left, 
therefore, to the unbiased exercise of their own feelings and judg- 
ment, and the report of their General Committee was adopted 
without important opposition. 

In May, 1825, immediately after the organization of the city 
government, the Overseers of the Poor addressed a communica- 
tion to the City Council, asking for a suitable house for the 
accommodation of the poor, and expressing their readiness to 
take upon themselves the oversight, care, and government of it. 
A Committee of the City Council, consisting of the Mayor, and 
Messrs. Williams, Thaxter, and Elliot, of the Common Coun- 
cil, was immediately appointed, to whom this application was 
referred, and who reported on the twelfth of May, that a house, 
such as the Overseers applied for, had already been provided by 
the city ; that it was placed under the care of the Directors of 
the House of Industry, who were invested by law, in respect of 
the inmates of that house, with all the powers exercised by the 
Overseers of the Poor ; that they were wisely and efficiently 
active in their oversight of it, to the content of the poor; and 
that their superintendence of the moral and physical condition 
of the inmates was highly satisfactory. The report expressed 
the gratification the Committee derived from the hope of being 

1 See ch. x. p. 146. 



CITY govern:ment. 169 

able to avail themselves of the general aid of the Overseers ; and 
the readiness of the City Council to grant all those practical and 
useful facilities relative to providing for the poor, which, from the 
tenor of their application, the Overseers appeared to desire ; and, 
in order that the poor of the city might enjoy the benefit and 
experience of both those Boards, the Committee presented their 
views in the form of three resolutions, which the City Council 
unanimously adopted. 

By the first, the Overseers of the Poor were authorized and 
requested to gi-ant permits for admission into the House of In- 
dustry of any person, in their judgment, entitled to the support 
of the city in that house, for which purpose its Directors were 
enjoined to provide relief and support. 

By the second, the Overseers of the Poor were authorized and 
requested, at their discretion, with or without notice, to visit the 
House of Industry, to inquire into its condition and the treat- 
ment and employment of the poor, and make such represent- 
ations on those subjects as their wisdom and experience might 
suggest. 

By the third, the JMayor and Aldermen were authorized to 
provide a suitable vehicle, for conveyance to the House of In- 
dustry of such decrepid persons as were incapacitated from going 
of themselves, and place the same at the disposal of both the 
superintending Boards. 

Asj soon as these resolutions were received by the Overseers 
of the Poor, they addressed, on the twenty-third of May, 1825, 
a memorial in writing to the City Council, stating that " they did 
not feel justified in relinquishing to the Directors of the House 
of Industry any of the tasks assigned them by law;" and that 
" they would not consent to grant the permits contemplated by 
the above resolves ; " and gave notice to the City Council that, 
" unless a house is provided, to which the Overseers can remove 
paupers, the city will be exposed to great expense." 

This memorial was referred to a Committee of the City 
Council, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Carney, Welsh, 
and Oliver, with Messrs. Savage, Williams, Thaxter, Elliot, 
Adan, Tracy, and Ware, of the Common Council ; who, on the 
twenty-seventh of June, reported, that the tenor of the above 
memorial indicated so great a misapprehension in the Board of 
Overseers, concerning then- rights and duties, as, if acquiesced 
15 



170 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

in, would result in consequences at once serious and embarrass- 
ing ; and to put those rights and duties, as far as possible, be- 
yond all doubt and question, they had requested the Mayor to 
lay the whole subject before counsel learned in the law, and for 
this purpose had selected William Prcscott, Charles Jackson, 
and Daniel Webster, gentlemen possessing the greatest profes- 
sional reputation, and whose opinion would, it Avas hoped, be 
conclusive with the Board of Overseers, and certainly with the 
public. 

The Mayor, accordingly, on the fourth of June, 1S25, ad- 
dressed a letter to those three jurists, and, after stating that an 
unhappy controversy had arisen, between the Overseers of the 
Poor and the City Council, in relation to their respective powers 
and duties, that a Committee of this body, to whom was 
referred the memorial of the Overseers, dated the twenty-third 
of the preceding I\Iay, had directed him to submit, for their 
inspection and consideration, certain laws and documents, and 
subjoin certain inquiries, for their official answer, as counsel 
learned in the law. The acts submitted were : — 

1st. The act for employing and providing for the poor of the 
town of Boston, passed in the year 1735, and ratified and con- 
firmed in January, 1789. 

2d. An act relative to the relief, support, employment, and 
removal of the poor, passed the twenty-sixth February, 1796. 

3d. An act concerning the House of Industry, passed the third 
February, 1823. 

4th. An act concerning the regulations of the House of Cor- 
rection in the city of Boston, and passed twelfth June, 1826. 

5th. An act establishing the City of Boston, passed the 
twenty-third February, 1822, called the City Charter. 

The documents submitted were, — 

1. The A^ote of the City Council, passed twenty-ninth Sep- 
tember, 1823.1 

2. The JMemorial of the Overseers of the Poor to the City 
Council, without date, but which was committed in this body 
on the fifth of May last. 

3. The Report of the Committee of the City Council on the 
preceding Memorial and the three Resolves subjoined, adopted 
and passed on the twelfth of May ^ last. 

1 Sec cli. vii. pp. 95, 9G. ~ See p. 168. 



CITY govern:ment. 171 

4. The Memorial of the Overseers of the Poor to the City 
Council, dated the twenty-third of May last.i 

The inquiries submitted for their oflicial answer were, — 

1. Is not the erecting, providing, and endowing the house for 
the reception and employment of the idle and poor of the city, 
called the House of Industry, and the appointment of directors 
thereof, according to the act entitled, "An act concerning the 
House of Industry," a sufficient and legal exercise of the author- 
ity invested in the City Council, under the acts of 1735, of 
1794, and of 1822? 

2. Does not the authority given to the Directors of the House 
of Industry to use, regulate, and govern said house, supersede, 
wdth respect to all persons sent to it, any authority in relation 
to them, given by the acts of 1735 and 1794 to the Overseers 
of the Poor, except so far as the City Council may authorize ? 

3. Have the Overseers of the Poor any right to appoint a 
master of said house, or to have the government thereof, or to 
ordain any rules or regulations concerning it ? 

4. Does the saving of the act of tenth January, 17S9, in the 
act of 1794, and the continuance in force thereby of the act of 
1735, preclude the city of Boston from any of the general privi- 
leges of the act of 1794, which are gi-anted by it to the other 
towns of the Commonwealth ^ or deprive the City Council, 
under the ti'ansfer of powe'o made by the city charter, from 
"directing the way and manner" in which poor and indigent 
persons shall be supported and relieved, according to the right 
secured to other towns in the Commonwealth by the act of 
1794? 

5. Is not the "direction" given by the City Council, as to 
" the way and manner " in which the poor and indigent shall 
be relieved and supported, conclusive and obligatory upon the 
Overseers of the Poor, under and by virtue of the act of 1794 ? 

6. Is not the " direction" given in the vote of the City Coun- 
cil, dated the twenty-ninth September, 1823,2 f^^\l ^nd sutficient 
in that respect ; and have the Overseers of the Poor a right to 
refuse to exercise that general visitatorial power which that vote 
provides for and authorizes ? 

7. After notice given of the passing of the fii-st resolve, on the 

1 See p. 169. 2 See ch. vii. pp. 95, 9G. 



172 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

twelfth of May last,^ have thp Overseers of the Poor a right to 
refuse to grant permits for admission of the poor and indigent, 
standing in need of rehef, to the House of Industry, who are in 
other towns of this Commonwealth, but belong to Boston, and 
to support sueli persons in other places in said city, or in such 
other towns ? 

8. Have the Overseers of the Poor in said city a right to refuse 
to give ])ermits for admission to the House of Industry of the 
poor and indigent of said city, standing in need of relief, and to 
support them in other places in said city ? 

9. Is there any power and authority in and over the House of 
Industry which the City Council can vest in the Overseers of 
the Poor, consistent with the powers and authorities vested by 
the act of third February, 1823, in the Directors of the House of 
Industry, other and greater than those invested and specified in 
the vote of the City Council, passed September 29, 1823,^ and 
the second resolve of that body, passed the twelfth of May 
last? 3 

On these laws, submitted documents, and inquiries, those 
jurists made the following statement of their opinions : — 

" In making up our opinion on the question now pending between the City 
Council and the Overseers of the Poor, respecting the powers and duties of the 
latter, we have considered first, the general provisions of the law on this sub- 
ject; and secondly, the statutes which apply exclusively to the city of Boston. 

"By the statute 1793, c. 59, towns may choose any number, not exceeding 
twelve, Overseers of the Poor, who shall have the care and oversight of the 
poor, and see that they are suitably relieved, supported, and employed, either in 
the work-house or other tenements belonging to the town, or in such other way 
and manner as they (the town) shall direct, or otherwise at the discretion of the 
Overseers. 

"By the city charter (stat. 1821, c. 110,) the City Council now has all the 
power, in this resjiect, that was formerly vested in the town. If there were no 
other statute on this subject, it is evident that the City Council Avould be 
authorized to provide a house for their poor, and prescribe the manner in which 
they should be supported and emploj-ed in it ; or to cause them to be relieved 
at their own houses, or in other private houses, or, in short, in any manner 
which, in the discretion of the City Council, should appear best ; and it woidd 
be the duty of the Overseers to comply with such directions. 

"By the provincial statute, 8 and 9 Geo. II., c. 3, (passed in May, 1735,) the 
town of Boston was authorized to erect a house for the reception and employ- 

1 See p. 1G8. 2 See ch. vii. pp. 95, 9G. 

3 See p. 1G8. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 173. 

ment of the idle and poor, and to discontinue the same if they should think 
proper ; the house to be under the regulation of the Overseers of the Poor, 
•who had power to make orders and by-laws for its government, subject to the 
control of the town, and to appoint the master and other officers of the house. 
If there were no other laws but those above mentioned, the City Council might, 
in their discretion, discontinue their almshouse, and require that their poor should 
be reUeved and supported in some other place or other manner ; but as long as 
the city had a house for the poor, in pursuance of that statute of 1735, the 
Overseers would have had the regulation and government of it. This last- 
mentioned statute furnishes the only foundation for the claims of the Overseers ; 
and, although there might possibly be a question Avhether it has not been virtu- 
ally repealed, (at least, so far as it relates to the government of the Alms- 
house,) yet we have thought it more safe and expedient to proceed on the sup- 
position that it remains in force, excepting so far as it has been clearly altered 
.by subsequent statutes. In the year 1823, the city had erected what they called 
a House of Industry. If this is to be considered as the " house for the reception 
and employment of the idle and poor," pursuant to the statute of 1735, the 
Overseers would have had the government of it, if no other provision had been 
made. But by the statute of the third February, 1822, 1823, c. 56, the Legis- 
lature gave the government of this House of Industry to nine directors, to be 
chosen by the City Council. If, therefore, tliis is the Almshouse, the govern- 
ment of it is taken from the Overseers and vested in the nine Directoi-s, and 
the statute of 1735 is so far repealed. The City Council could not, as we con- 
ceive, give to the Overseers any control over this house, inconsistent with the 
authority vested by law in the Directors. On the other hand, if this House of 
Industry is a distinct establishment, and not such a poor-house, as is contem- 
plated in the statute of 1735, it is clear that the Overseers have nothing to do 
with it. It is equally clear that, whether the house is of one or the other de- 
scription, the City Council has authority, according to the statute 1793, c. 59, to 
rec[uire that the poor should be relieved, siqiported, and employed in that house. 
It may be proper here to remark that, although the law appears to give an un- 
limited power to towns, to cause their poor to be relieved in any manner what- 
ever, yet there seems to be some limitation, arising necessarily out of peculiar cir- 
cumstances and from other parts of the law. If, for example, a poor person should 
break a limb, or be so ill that he could not be moved without endangering his 
life, the Overseers would be bound to relieve him immediately, without carry- 
ing him to the poor-house, or before he could be sent there, notwithstanding the 
town should ha^■e prescribed that as the place for maintaining the poor. There 
is another kind of exception which, though not re<piired by law, seems to be 
called for by humanity and benevolence, as well as by a regard to economy, 
and that is, of those householders and others, who require only partial relief, 
and who may be rendered more comfortable by a small supply of necessaries at 
their own homes, than by being wholly supported in a poor-house. And the 
undersigned would suggest to the City Council, the expediency of passing an 
order for the relief and employment of the poor in the House of Industry, and 
of excepting from its operation the two classes of persons above-mentioned. 

"As to all those persons who may be lawfully relieved without being sent to the 
House of Industrv, the care of them remains entirely with the Overseers ; but as 
15* 



174 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tx) all who ought by law and the orders of the City Council to be relieved and 
supported in that place, the Directors have the same powers that the Overseers 
have to send them there, and have the sole power of governing them after they 
are admitted. 

" If the City Coumil has a right to require that all the poor, excepting the 
two classes above-mentioned, shall be supported in the House of Industry, it 
necessarily follows that the Overseers are bound to send all such poor there for 
relief; and if they should decline to do so, the remedy would be substantially 
the same as in any other town in the Commonwealth where the Overseers should 
refuse to provide for the poor according to law and to the directions of the town. 
" These o-eneral views of the subject exhibit the o})inions that we have formed 
on most of the points in controversy ; but we proceed brielly to give a specific 
answer to each of the questions contained in the annexed papers. 

"" To the first, we answer, that, in our opinion, the erecting and providing for 
the House of Industry, is a valid and legal exercise of authority hy the City 
Council ; and we also think that it may be considered such a poor-house as is 
contemplated by the statute of 1735 ; though, for the reasons above-mentioned, 
we have not thought it material to settle the last question. "VVe have no doubt 
that it is a house in which the City Council may lawfully order the poor to be 
reheved and employed ; and that the poor when there, must be relieved and 
employed by the Directors, and under their authority. 

" To the second, we answer in the affirmative. It is impossible that two dis- 
tinct and independent bodies should each have the whole of the authority in 
question, and the statute 1822, c. 5G, has given the authority to the Directors. 
" To the third ; in our opinion, the Overseers have no such right or authority. 
" To the fourth ; we see nothing in any of the statutes referred to, which could 
prevent the town, before the charter, or the City Council now, from " directing 
the way and manner " in which the poor should be relieved, supported, and 
employed, as any other town in the Commonwealth might do, excepting only 
that before the statute of 1822, c. 56, if the city had seen fit to build and main- 
tain a poor-house in pursuance of the provisions of the statute of 1735, the Over- 
seers would have had the direction of the house. 

" To the fifth ; the City Council has, in our opinion, the same authority in this 
respect that the town formerly possessed, and their votes pursuant to that author- 
ity are conclusive and obligatory on the Overseers. 

" To the sixth ; we see no necessity for the Overseers to exercise any authority 
over the poor in the House of Industry ; and the City Council cannot, as we 
apprehend, give to the Overseers any authority inconsistent with that which is 
vested in the Directors by the statute of 1822, c. 56. Of course, we are of opi- 
nion that the Overseers cannot exercise any greater authority than that speci- 
fied in the vote of September 29, 1823. This vote, however, does not appear to 
be a full exercise of the authority of the City Council, and we would suggest the 
expediency of their passing a fbnnal order (if there is not such a one in force) 
requiring that all the poor, with the exception of the two classes above-mentioned, 
shall be relieved, supported, and employed in the House of Industry. 

" To the seventh ; if the City Council have passed, or should see fit to pass, an 
order of the kind suggested in our preceding answer, the Ovei-secrs could not 
lawfully maintain the poor, who come within the terms of the order, at the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 175 

expense of the city, at any other place than the House of Industry. The 
Directors of that House have the same power as the Overseers to send there any 
of the poor persons referred to In this question. 

" The eighth Is answered in the preceding answer. 

'• To tlie ninth ; we are not aware of anj- further measures that can or ought to 
be taken by the City Council in this respect. 

(Signed) "William Prescott, 
« CiiAULES Jackson, 

Daniel Webster." 
"Boston, June 21, 1825. 

The opinions of these jurists on the several laws, documents, 
and questions submitted to them, were received and communi- 
cated to the City Council on the twenty-seventh of June, 1825, 
and, in conformity therewith, the Committee reported the three 
following resolves, which were immediately passed by the City 
Council ; and, by their order, an attested copy of the report and 
resolves was transmitted to each member of the Board of Over- 
seers of the Poor. 

1. Resolved, That the Overseers of the Poor be, and hereby 
are directed to cause all persons, who, from the nature of the ill- 
ness under which they labor, or of the accident which has 
befallen them, are incapable without endangering life to be 
removed from the place where they are, to be relieved and sup- 
ported in such place until they are capable of being removed, 
and as soon as they are capable of being removed, the said 
Overseers are directed to cause them forthwith to be removed 
for further relief and support to the House of Industry. 

2. Resolved, That the Overseers of the Poor be, and they 
hereby are directed, as it respects those householders and others, 
who, in their opinion, require partial relief, and who may be ren- 
dered more comfortable by a small supply at their own houses 
than by being wholly supported in a poor-house, to grant such 
partial relief and small supply of necessaries at their own 
houses. 

3. Resolved, That the Overseers of the Poor be, and they 
hereby are directed to see that all poor and indigent persons, 
having lawful settlement in the city of Boston, and standing in 
need of relief, other than those belonging to the classes specified 
in the two preceding resolves, be suitably relieved, supported, and 
employed in the House of Industry, according to thic regulations 
and under the superintendence of the Directors of said House. 



176 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

On the nineteenth of May, 1825, a committee was appointed 
in both branches of the City Council, to inquire into " the practi- 
cabiUty, expense, and expediency of supplying the city with 
good, wholesome, and soft water." On the thirteenth of June the 
Committee reported that there was no doubt of its practicability 
or expediency, and that the only questions were, concerning the 
expense and the mode by which it could be effected ; but that 
a gi-cat diversity of opinion existed, whether it ought to be left 
to private associations of capitalists, or be done wholly at the 
expense of the city ; they recommended a sm-vey of the most 
suitable places in the vicinity from which a sufficient supply 
might be obtained. This was authorized, and an appropriation 
made of one thousand dollars for the object. 

So little were the future wants of the city anticipated, that the 
INIayor received from a citizen of Boston, perhaps second to none 
of his time for talents, judgment, and affection for the city, a let- 
ter dated June 25, 1825, recommending Stony Brook, in Roxbury, 
" as the source of supply, and stating, from his own observation, 
that, during forty years, it had never failed to supply water suffi- 
cient for the purposes of the city." Indeed, there was no general 
deficiency of a supply of water felt at that time, except at fires. 
On the fourteenth of November, Daniel Treadwell, an experi- 
enced engineer, was, however, employed by the city to make 
a survey of places best adapted to afford such a supply; and, 
on the twenty-thu-d of the same month, the INIayor received a 
letter from John C. Warren, then, as now, one of the most emi- 
nent physicians in the city, which, after stating "that the in- 
troduction of an ample supply of pm-e water would contribute 
much to the health of the city, and prove one of the gi-eatest 
blessings which could be bestowed upon it," concluded with a 
caution against " any project involving much expense, as being 
objectionable, and might tend to delay the execution of a more 
perfect plan, and protract the existence of an evil most important 
to be removed." Spot Pond, in Stoneham, and Charles River, 
were the two sources of supply to which Mr. TreadweU's survey 
related ; and the expense to the city from either source was cal- 
culated not to exceed six or seven hundred thousand dollars. 
The public mind was not, however, prepared to incur even this 
expense for the object; and Mr. TreadweU's report was imme- 
diately referred to the next City Council. And in December, a 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 177 

joint committee of both branches were appointed to ascertain on 
what terms the som-ces of supply, suggested by I\Ir. Treadwell, 
could be obtained. 

While these measures were in progi'ess, the Mayor entered into 
a correspondence with Wilham T. Lewis of Philadelphia, whose 
superintendence of the waterworks of that city, and instrument- 
ality in consti-ucting them, had highly qualified him to give 
information on the subject. With great readiness, Mr. Lewis 
gave his opinion upon all the topics on which the Mayor had 
inquired, and particularly on that which he regarded as the most 
important of all others, as to the expediency of effecting the 
object wholly at the expense of the city, or by the aid of asso- 
ciated capitahsts.- "On this subject," he replied, "cost is not 
to be regarded; in London, scarcely a fire of any magnitude 
happens, without complaints of the deficiency of water; and 
I have now a paper in my possession, stating a meeting of 
the Common Council of the city, inquiring into its cause. This 
it does not require much consideration to answer. It is from 
the fatal error of suftering interested individuals to have the 
supply of an article of the most indispensable nature, and, with- 
out which, health and comfort cannot be enjoyed. Expense 
is comparatively no object. If a company supply your city, 
they will expect to profit by it, and this profit may as well be 
saved to your corporation. If it be a losing business, indivi- 
duals should not suffer by forwarding a great pubhc object ; and 
if they do, the citizens will be sure to feel it by a pinched and 
partial supply. In Philadelphia, we have expended vast sums 
of money, yet I firmly believe that were the question submitted 
to the citizens, to sell to a company the whole cost, with inte- 
rest, that not one tenth part of the population would agree to it. 
The increased security from fire, the abundant supply for wash- 
ing the streets, the copious streams afforded for baths for cleanli- 
ness, and, in short, many other advantages, are such, and so well 
appreciated, that no money would tempt them to make sale of 
the works." These views were deemed by the Mayor conclu- 
sive on this point; and a very powerful association being, at 
that time, forming, to introduce water into the city, he came to 
the resolution to throw his w^hole ofl^icial influence against it. 

During this year the building of Faneuil Hall Market was 
pursued with great vigor. On the second of May, a committee 



178 MUNICIPAL HISTOEY. 

of both branches^ was raised on the subject, who appointed a 
sub-committee 2 for its superintendence, and David W. Child, 
the active superintendent of the work. None but ordinary super- 
visory attentions were required ; and the year closed with reports 
to the City Council, concerning the expenditures of the year, 
and the outstanding claims of proprietors of the land. 

In October, 1825, a resolve passed the City Council, vesting 
the Mayor with authority to take a census of all the inhabit- 
ants of the city. In order to give perfect satisfaction to the 
citizens, the Mayor, after consulting the Board of Aldermen, 
selected two individuals for each ward of the city, and for that 
part of ward No. 12, called South Boston, two additional per- 
sons, all well qualified for the task ; and after a thorough 
research, it resulted that the population of the city in the year 
1825, \vas/ifti/-cig'hi thousand two hundred and eighty-one ; mak- 
ing an increase in the five years succeeding the last census in 
1820, o{ fourteen thousand three hundred and eighty-one. 

In January, 1825, a request, signed by sixty citizens, was made 
in writing to the Mayor and Aldermen, for a call of a meeting 
of the citizens in ivards, to apply to the Legislature for such an 
alteration in the city charter, that the Board of Aldermen shall 
consist of twelve members, one of whom should be chosen in 
each of the wards, the vote on the question to be taken by ballot. 
This application was soon followed by a remonstrance of other 
citizens, denying the authority of the Mayor and Aldermen to 
call ward meetings for such a purpose. The subject was refen'ed 
to a committee, of which the Mayor was chairman ; and a 
report,-^ stating their views of the authority vested in the Mayor 

1 The Committee •were, — the Mayor, Aldermen Blake, Marshall, and Bry- 
ant ; and of the Common Council, Oliver, (its President) Coolidge, Curtis, Wil- 
liams, Hastings, Adan, and Boies. 

2 The Sub-Committee were, — tlie Mayor, Marshall, Bryant, Williams, and 
Boies. 

3 The following is a condensed statement of this report : — 

That antecedent to the amendments of the constitution of the Commonwealth 
in 1820, the power to call public meetings of the Inhabitants in wards was never 
exercised or attempted to be, other than for the choice of officers^ ; and that the 
power of constituting a city and organizing its government by ward elections 
was fii-st obtained under the second article of the amendments to that constitu- 
tion ; and that by the terms of that amendment that power is vested in the Gene- 
ral Court, with the power of prescribing the manner of calling and holding pub- 
lic meetings of the Inhabitants in wards or otherwise ; so that the powers of the 
city authorities to call meetings of the inhabitants in irards, depends solely on the 
grant of the legislature^ and do not extend beyond the terms of that grant. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 179 

and Aldermen, was made, accepted, and a resolve passed in both 
branches of the City Council, that, in their opinion, "the Mayor 
and Aldermen are not authorized by the city charter to call 
meetings of the citizens in wards, on the application of any 
meeting of citizens whatsoever, for any pm-pose, except those 
expressly provided for in said charter." 

In May, 1825, a petition, signed by more than sixty persons, 
was presented to the Mayor and Aldermen, requesting that a 
general meeting of the citizens should be called, to give their 
ballots by yea and nay, on the following proposition, namely, — 
" Shall ten hours faithful labor be considered hereafter as a day's 
work for journeymen mechanics in this city." Which, being 
read and considered, it was resolved to be inexpedient to pass 
the same, " the Board deeming the subject not within the provi- 
sions of the city charter." 

The city charter had made no provision for filUng any vacancy 
which might occm- by death or resignation in the Board of Alder- 
men. This defect was remedied in June, 1824, by a special act 
of the Legislature of Massachusetts. 

The inconvenience of organizing the city government so late 
in the season as the month of May, had been generally felt by 
the members of the City Council. And in November, 1824, a 
committee, of which the Mayor was chairman, made a report on 
the expediency of applying to the Legislature for an alteration 
in the city charter, so as to enable the citizens to organize the 
city government at an earlier period of the year, stating that the 
two first months of the year were those of the greatest leisure, 
and would give the new government enlarged opportunities to 
review the proceedings of theh predecessors, and to digest their 
own ; more ample time to make the necessary contracts for the 
service of the year, before the business season commenced, and 
greatly facilitate the operations of the city ; concluding with a 
recommendation that a meeting of the inhabitants of the city 
should be called, for the purpose of obtaining then* authority to 
apply to the Legislatm-e for such a change in the city charter, 
that the municipal elections should take place annually, in the 

Now there is no clause in the charter of the city giving any color to tlie exer- 
cise of a power to call any public meeting of citizens in wards, except in cases 
specifically enumerated, in which it is not pretended that the meeting for which 
that now requested to be called is included. 



180 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

month of December, and the municipal year commence on the 
first Monday in January. The sanction of the inhabitants hav- 
ing been obtained, the Legislature, by an act passed on the 
twenty-seventh of June, 1825, authorized the proposed alteration 
of the charter ; and this city year included, of consequence, but 
eight months. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CITY GOVERX]\IENT. 1825. 

JosiAH QuixCY, Maijor. 

An Act authorizing a New Organization of the Fire Department applied for 
and obtained from tlie State Legislature — Sanction of the Act by the Citi- 
zens — Measures pursued to carry it into effect — Sites for Engine Houses 
selected — Reservoirs constracted — Lafayette revisits the City — Measures 
adopted on the Occasion by the City Council. 

Soon after the organization of the city government, in May, 
1825, a joint committee of the City Council, consisting of the 
Mayor, Aldermen Blake, Marshall, and Bryant, and of Messrs. 
Oliver, Parker, Rice, Dyer, Fisher, Wells, and Elliot, of the Com- 
mon Council, was raised on the fire department, according to the 
recommendation of the preceding City CouncU. On their report 
a vote was passed, that a new organization of it was expedient, 
and another, authorizing the Mayor and Aldermen to apply to 
the Legislature of the State to invest the officers of the proposed 
fire department, when elected, with such powers and authorities 
as might be requisite. 

The Mayor, in reply to his inquiries, received a letter from 
Thomas Franklin, who had been for twenty years Chief Engi- 
neer of the Fire Department of the city of New York, of the 
following tenor : " Relative to our system of extinguishing fires, 
I believe, from long- experience, it is the best that can be 
DEVISED ; and I respectfully recommend, that a suitable person 
be appointed to visit and examine our fire department, and see 
the operation thereof. I am persuaded it will be more eflectual 
than any written communication." 

In consequence of this suggestion, the Committee of the City 
Council commissioned George Darracott, a citizen of Boston, — 
who had been one of its firewards, and who was highly qualified 
by experience, energy, and practical skill, — to visit New York 
and Philadelphia, and inquire into the organization of then- fire 
16 



182 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

department, and to examine into the construction, size, and 
power of their engines. 

JVIr. Darracott immediately visited those cities, and received in 
both every facility for becoming acquainted with their whole 
system of fire police. On the first of June ensuing, he addressed 
a letter to the JNIayor, minutely replying to all the particulars 
included in his commission, with precision and with practical 
statements and reflections, resulting in an unequivocal expres- 
sion of opinion, that " such is the advantage of the system in use 
in those cities, that it could not be too early pressed upon the 
attention of the city authorities of Boston ; " adding, that 
" although the firemen of Boston possessed as much intrepidity 
as any men, and risked readily both their property and per- 
sons, yet they have not been accustomed to regard favorably 
the hose system, and seldom make use of hose, except when 
they cannot play from the pipe. The reverse of this is the case 
in New York. It there frequently happens, when a fire originates 
in narrow passage-ways, where engines cannot operate to advan- 
tage, that they are placed in the centre of one of their large 
squares, entirely out of view of the fke, and the hose is led 
through stores and houses in the vicinity. This, with the effi- 
cient organization of the various component parts of the depart- 
ment, and the playing of the ichoJe under the supreme command 
of one, is what, in my opinion, after a minute and careful inspec- 
tion of the whole system, gives the firemen of New York, such a 
decided superiority over those of any other place. To this con- 
clusion my mind has been irresistibly led. I have always felt a 
degree of pride in the character of om- Boston firemen, and never 
would concede the point, that fires were not better managed 
here than elsewhere. But recent events have caused doubts in 
my mind. Those doubts are now confirmed. The fault lies not 
in the men, but in the system." This letter was immediately 
published for the information of the citizens, and a petition at 
once presented to the State Legislature, conformably to the 
authority given l)y the City Council, for powers to organize a 
fire department in Boston, on the principles which have beer 
stated. 

There was, however, reason to fear, that such was the invete- 
rate animosity of certain individuals to the system proposed, 
some of whom were members of the Legislature and of the Bos- 



CITY GOVERKNIEXT. 183 

ton scat, that their influence would be thrown in favor of reject- 
ing the appHcation altogether, without giving the citizens oi)por- 
tunity to express their opinion upon it. The Mayor, therefore, 
to cast upon the opponents of the system the responsibility of 
such total rejection, caused the following address to be imme- 
diately printed and transmitted to each member of the Legisla- 
ture. 

TO THE MEMBERS OP THE BOSTON SEAT, IN THE LEGISLATURE OF 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Boston, 12th June, 1825. 

Gentlemen: — Understanding that dovibts are entertained, concerning the 
principle of the bill, relative to a fire department, and that too by members of 
tlie Boston seat, I deem it my duty not to permit that bill to fail, withont dis- 
tinctly explaining the views of the City Council upon the subject. If the city is 
again made subject to destruction by the inapplicability of our present system to 
the existing state of population, I am desirous that the City Council shall escape 
the responsibility of such misfortune. 

The principal object of the bill, is to vest in the City Council the poirr-r of 
constituting an efficient fire department^ and, for thif; purpose, that they should. 
have the appointment of the officers of that department and the distribution of 
their duties. The power to appoi?it and to prescribe the duties is the simple object. 
If it fliil, there can be no organization of an efficient fire department, and the 
consequences I need not portray. 

The present system is, from the nature of things, inapplicable to the existing 
state of population, and it cannot be made applicable. 

At present, thirty-six members compose a board of firevrards, and as many 
more as the City Council may determine. They are chosen in wards. Their 
power consists, — 

1st. In recpiiring, during fire, assistance in extinguishing it, or in removing 
goods or guarding them, and in suppressing tumults or disorders. 

2d. In directing and appointing the stations and operations of engines and 
enginemen, and of all persons in extinguishing fires. 

This power is supported by the sanction of a penalty of ten dollars, on refusal 
or neglect to obey their orders. 

This system had its origin in, and from the nature of things is solely appUca- 
hle to comparatively small towns. 

The authority of firewards, though called power, is in fact influence. Of 
what possible use toward an efficient extinguishment of a fire is the recovery of 
ten dollars the next day on a delinquent ? Of the thousand neglects and refu- 
sals which occur at every fire, how many are prosecuted? Comparatively 
speaking, not one ! 

The efficient authority of firewards, under our present system is mere influ- 
ence. And, as such, the highest and the most influential citizens, who could be 
persuaded to take the office, it was the practice to make firewards ; to the end 
that the individuals whom they required to assist, might be unwilling to refuse, 
either through shame or respect. 



184 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Tliis was the real efEcient power of tlie present ?} stem. But it is obA-ious 
that the whole of this power is annihilated, when a city is grown to such a size, 
as that not one in ten of the firewards, let him be ever so respectable, can be 
kno^vn to the attendant multitude, when that multitude are, for the most part, 
assembled not from sjmpathy for the sufferers, but from idle curiosit)', and many 
from worse motives; wlien, from the practice of insuring, and the belief pi'eva- 
lent that the loss will be borne by the capital of insurance offices, indifference to 
them becomes more prevalent, and disinclination to incur the labor and hazard 
of assisting in extinguishing them more general ; and that too in those very 
classes of the community whose weight of character and property used formerly 
to constitute the strength of the ' influence ' of firewards, by cooperating in their 
exertions. 

Is it wonderful, in such a state of population and of feeling, that the scenes 
which every man has witnessed of late at fires should occur ? The surrounding 
multitude have neither shame nor fear, in refusing the fireward, and running 
away in masses as soon as he is seen with his badge of office advancing towards 
them ; or if a few yield a reluctant assent temporarily, yet quitting the lanes, 
or leaving the work assigned them, as soon as the iireward's back is turned. 

The result of this state of things is as undeniable as it is inevitable, and the 
consequences and duties resulting from it are equally plain and unquestionable. 

The system of depending upon the aid of the surrounding multitude must be 
abandoned, and with it the system dependent upon mere influence or solicitation 
of sympathies. 

A system must be adopted, suited to a large population, which every day is 
growing more mixed and less sympathizing with each other; in other words, 
discipline, subordination, and a Avell-marshalled arrangement, in which success is 
made to depend upon the organization of the department and its own efficiency, 
and not upon the reluctant aid of those who happen to be present. 

In other words, Boston, like New York and other great cities, must liave a 
fire department based upon the princij^le of being adequate to self-protection, in 
which the assistance of the mass of the citizens, so far from being solicited, is in 
fact prohibited ; a system not of influence, but of self-dependent power. 

If It be denied to the present earnest application of the City Council, there 
needs no spirit of prophecy to foretell that it will, at no great distance of time 
he burnt into us. 

Tliis system, as It exists in New York, Is founded upon the use of suction and 
distributing hose, in filling their engines, instead of buckets ; by which it is 
proved that tn-ery hundred feet of liose is as effectual as the presence o? sixty men 
with buckets ; where])y the presence of the multitude is not rendered necessary. 
The discipline of the department applies only to those who belong to it. Great 
efficiency and energy is the result. And a system of Influence Is abandoned, 
and one of efficiency substituted. 

To the introducing of this system, the City Council have already authorized 
a great ex])ense for engines and hose, and must incur more. 

In order to make it effectual, discipline must be introduced, subordination 
established, practice in the use of the hose ap2)aratus encouraged. For this pur- 
pose it is absolutely essential that the power proposed by this bill should be 
invested in the Citv Council. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 185 

Tliirty-six men, coequal in power, excludes the idea of ov!:;anization or subor- 
dination. How absurd is it to any efficient responsibility, that the body of men 
which are intrusted with the power of supplying the means and instruments 
should be denied the power of selecting the agents and organizing the depart- 
ment which is to make use of them ! How fruitful in disputes and controversies 
must be such an attempt. 

This system is not theory. It is now in existence, practised and satisfactory. 
I subjoin extracts i from a letter from the late Chief Engineer of New York, con- 
cerning the excellence of their system. Above all, I subjoin an extract from a 
letter of George Darracott, Esq., formerly a fireward of this city, who has been 
sent on by the city authorities to examine the actual state of things in this 
respect in New York. 

I entreat the gentlemen of the Boston delegation so far to obtain the bill, if 
possible, as to be subject to the acceptance or refusal, by ballot of the citizens 
of Boston, at a general meeting. 

Considering this measure to be of the most vital importance to the prosperity' 
and safety of this city, I have taken the liberty to address this letter to you, gen- 
tlemen, and to give it publicity, to the end that the views of the City Council 
might not be misapprehended, and that if this measure fail, it shall not be attri- 
butable to any neglect, indifference, or shrinking from official responsibility In 
them. Very respectfully, yours, 

JOSIAH QuiXCY. 

The com-se thus adopted proved successful. The purpose of 
at once absolutely rejecting the system was not pursued ; and 
on the eighteenth of June, 1825, an act was passed by the Legis- 
lature " establishing a fire department in the city of Boston," 
dependent for its final adoption on the votes of the citizens. A 
general meeting of the inhabitants was thereupon called, to vote 
on the subject on the seventh of the then ensuing July. 

Notwithstanding these statements and exertions, the hostility 
to the proposed system was not allayed. 

The private interests it opposed, and the attachment to old 
customs which it thwarted, rendered final success dubious. The 
ward rooms rang with patriotic harangues on the infringement 
of the ancient liberties of the people, by depriving them of the 
power of electing firewards ; and the press, with warning voices 
on the usurpation of powers, which, it was asserted, could best 
be exercised by the body of the citizens. The attempt to deny 
citizens the right of assisting each other in distress, was indig- 
nantly reprobated ; and it was publicly declared, that " it would 
not be submitted to by the fii-e-proof brethren of the North End." 

1 For these extracts, see pp. 182, 183, 
16* 



186 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

The idea of efficiency in a hose system, and of engines putting 
out fires, by playing into one another, was treated as ridiculous. 
Language of this kind began to be used, not only by the vio- 
lent and prejudiced, but even by men from whom a higher know- 
ledge and better feelings might have been anticipated. In this 
state of the controversy, the Mayor wrote and distributed, on his 
individual responsibility, on the day previous to the general 
meeting, the following address, explanatory of the views of the 
City Council, and m-ging the citizens to attend the meeting 
and give in their ballots, by all the considerations he thought 
calculated to awaken and to influence. 

TO THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON. 

Perceiving tliat the acceptance or rejection of the 'act establishing a fire 
tlepartnient ' is a snbject of some discussion in the public prints, and being desi- 
rous, whenever that question is taken, that, whatever may be the event, its real 
nature and consequences may not be misajiprehended by my fellow-citizens, I 
deem it my duty, in the relation I stand to the city, to make a distinct develop- 
ment of the subject. Considering also its nature and the circumstances con- 
nected with it, I cannot deem this duty fulfilled as it ought to be, unless I annex 
my name to this elucidation. 

It will not be necessary to use any words to prove that our present system 
of protection against fire is, for some reason or other, not satisfactory to the citi- 
zens of this metropolis. 

It will only be necessary to recall, on this point, the recollection of our fel- 
low-citizens to the deep discontent manifestetl at the conduct and result of both 
the last great fires, — that in Beacon and that in Central Street. 

On both these occasions, the inadequacy of our means of protection, or tlu' 
insufficiency of their application was palpable, and the chscontent exjiressed little 
short of universal. 

Great difference of opinion, however, was manifested as to the causes of the 
confusion, disorder, and inefficiency exhibited on these occasions. Some 
lamented the want of water. Some the want of buckets. One set of men com- 
plained of the want of power in the firewards to command. Another of the 
want of v/illingness in the multitude present to obey. And all, of the general 
want of fire clubs, and of those ancient associations for mutual protection on 
occasion of fire. 

In this state of sentiment and feeling, which notoriously existed, it was the 
duty of the City Council to ascertain the real causes of the evils of which all 
complained, and apply remedies suited and adequate to the nature of the case. 

Now, it was impossible to reflect upon this acknowledged state of things, with 
the seriousness which a sense of duty and of responsibility imposed on the City 
Council, without coming to the conclusion that all these Avants or deficiencies 
were, more or less, founded in fact, and the resulting want of ])rotection was not 
so much, if at all, attributable to the men, who had the control of the present sys- 
tem, as to that system itself; in other words, that the evils of which all com- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 187 

plained, were attributable chiefly, if not solely, to the InappVicaliUty of our pre- 
sent si/.<tem of protection acjainstfre, to tlie present state and relations of the popu- 
lation of our city. And as this population was every day increasing with great 
rapidity, our present system was every day with like rapidity growing more 
inadequate to effect that protection the citizens had a right to demand. 

A very transient reflection on the acknowledged state of tlrings will, I think, 
satisfy my fellow-citizens of the justice of this conclusion. 

And first, of the complaint of the want of water. A deficiency in this respect 
is unquestionable, and means are in train for remedying it, under the auspices 
of the City Council. Yet the truth is, that we have as much water now as we 
ever had in the city, and as we had in those times when the conduct of fires 
gave great and just content in our city. Assuredly also, the deficiency of water 
in the vicinity of Beacon Street or of Central Street, could not be considered as 
the cause of the confusion, disorder, and inefficiency wliich all complained of 
on both those occasions. 

On the contrary, if our present system be sufficient, a manifest deficiency in 
the article of water would be a reason for order and regularit}-, rather than a 
cause of disorder and confusion. 

Our present system presupposes either a icill in the surrounding multitude 
at fires, to aid in forming lanes to pass water to the engines, or a power in the 
firewards to compel them to form sucli lanes. 

Now, just in proportion as water in the vicinity of any fire is deficient, is the 
necessity apparent that it should be brought from a distance ; and, of course, 
that the efficiency of the will, or the power to make lanes, should be manifested. 
If our present system be, therefore, in this respect, sufficient, the alacrity to form 
lanes and to preserve order in the multitude present, and the facility with which 
the firewards are enabled to form the one and preserve the otlier, will be 
increased rather than diminished, by the existence of so great an exigency. 
How it was on both occasions, can best be answered by the firewards and the 
citizens present. 

Again, — are the evils of which we complain to be attributed to the want of 
buckets, of fire clubs, or of any of the ancient associations for mutual protec- 
tion ? What is the reason of this ? Why are we deficient in buckets ? Why 
are the members of fire clubs greatly diminished ? Why those ancient as- 
sociations abandoned or grown into disuse ? There can be but one answer. 
The state of things is changed in this respect. With the greatness of popula- 
tion, a different state of feeling and of modes of protection have grown up. 

Formerly, one could not open the front door of the highest or the richest 
citizen, without having his eye greeted with at least two buckets, containing 
fire bags and a bed key, all duly labelled, indicating to what fire society he be- 
longed. The same was true in relation to the house of almost every citizen, 
except those of the poorest class. 

At this day, how many doors can you open and behold the same sight ? I 
answer, within bound, not one in fifty. AVliy is this ? If you ask the owner, 
and he answers truly, nine times in ten it will be, — 'I am insured ; why should 
I keep fire buckets? Why subject myself to the rules and customs of fire 
clubs ? Or why turn out to fires at all ? I go to the expense of protecting 
myself. I ask no protection from others, and I mean to incur no voluntary 



188 MUMCIPAL mSTORY. 

expense ; and, mucli more, ■vvill not incur the risk of health and life in protect- 
ing them.' 

However cold, selfish, or calculating this language may seem, it is the prac- 
tical language of men in all great cities. In such cities, the influential classes of 
citizens, the householders, and men of property of every description, grow more 
in the habit of ptotecting themselves, more unwilUng to incur the risk and the 
labor which aiding at fii-es makes necessary ; and the number of those who are 
indifferent on such occasions, or who are willing to make profit by the misfor- 
tunes of others, is increased. The consequence is, that in all cities, after they 
have attained a certain point of greatness, the system of depending upon the 
aid of all the citizens has been abandoned, and a system, self-dependent, and 
which, so far from recpiring the aid of all the citizens, excludes that aid, has 
been adopted. 

The substantial question, therefore, presented to the citizens of Boston is 
this, — having become a city, with a great population, will you adopt a system con- 
formable to the state of things in which you exist ? or, with a great population, will 
you adhere to a system adapted only, and which can be efficient only, in a city 
■with comparatively a very small population ? Whatever prejudices may exist 
upon the subject, and whatever interests or feelings may be affected by the 
avowal, it is my duty to state, as the result of all the researches made under the 
authority of the City Council, on the subject, that the present system of Jireicards 
is not, and cannot be made, an efficient system of protection against fire, tvitli a 
population such as at present exists in this city. The fault is not in the men, 
but the system. 

Thirty-six men are annually chosen, in wards, all equal in power; and in 
cases of fire, ajiy three have precisely the same potcer with every other three. I 
lay aside all questions concerning the effect of choosing in wards, rather than by 
general ticket. I take it for granted, that the men, thus chosen, are the best 
thirty-six men that exist in the city for this purpose, and that they always will be 
the best. 

I ask, then, what are the efficient powers of such firewards, in relation to 
commanding aid on these occasions, considered in the hght of substantial protec- 
tion ? The answer, and only answer that can be given, is, that ' they can require 
the assistance of all j^ersons present to aid in extincjuishing fires' But, suppose 
the persons required refuse or neglect to obey ? What then ? They are liable 
to be prosecuted the next day for ten dollars ! 

The penalty, indeed is heavy ; but what is it as it respects efficient protec- 
tion ? 

Of the thousands, which, at every great fire, either refuse or neglect to obey 
the fireward, and shrink from him, or go away as soon as he approaches, how 
many have ever been prosecuted, and paid then- ten dollars. Comparatively 
speaking, not one. 

This great authority of the fireward, on which so much reliance is placed, 
when looked to for efficient protection, tums out to be nothing more than the 
good icill of the persons present. The fireward orders, and if the person ordered 
wills, he obeys : if he does not so icill, he lets it cdone. And this is the whole mat- 
ter. For, unless in the case of some flagrant insult or outrage, he never hears 
any more of the business. Kor can there be any blame cast on the fireward. 



CITY GOVERX^IENT. 189 

Amidst darkness and confusion and hurry, how can he identify the individual, 
much more arrest and keep him in custody ? 

The efficient authority of firewards turns out then to be, after all, mere influ- 
ence ; and the whole system is predicated upon its hebuj influence, ^ and notltinfj else. 
It is a sufficient system in an early stage of society, and in a limited extent of 
population. But when society advances, when a population becomes numerous, 
the weight of personal character and influence is little felt ; comparatively not 
at all. °And the consequence is, that a system of influence must be abandoned, 
and one of efficiency adopted. 

Now a system, to be efficient, must be self-depende72t ; not relying upon 
whim, caprice, or the accidental presence of well-disposed individuals ; but pos- 
sessing within itself, and by the inherent force of its own organization, the cajia- 
city of affording the protection required. By the aid of hose, of suction, and 
supply engines, such a system supersedes the necessity of lanes, and, by the 
power of machines, renders only a very small number of persons sufficient for 
protection. This is the system of New York. The surrounding multitude, in- 
stead of being solicited to aid, are prohibited from interfering. The engineers, 
the firemen, and hosemen, and hook and ladder men, are competent to manage 
all the machines. The efficiency of this system is not a matter of speculation. 
The following extracts of letters, although already published, deserve to be here 
inserted, for the sake of those who have not seen them.i 

The cpestion, then, now presented to the citizens of Boston, is a question 
between two systems. And, on this point, in order that there may be no mistake 
in this matter, and no deception, I wish it to be distinctly understood, that the 
existence and present relations and powers of firewards is iL-hoUy incompatlhle 
with the system recommended, and in practice in New York; and that, so lung as 
these relations and powers subsist, this system cannot be introduced. 

For, although firewards make a component part of the system in New York, 
yet their relations and their powers are very different from those of firewards m 
this city. One great business, for instance, of firewardens under our system, is 
to make citizens assist atflres. Whereas, one great business of firewards in New 
York, is to ' keep persons at a distance from them.' 

I know that it is urged with great warmth and vehemence in the public 
prints, that the object of the City Council Is, ' to wrest from the citizens the 
election of firewards.' 

The truth, however, is, that the object of the City Council is of a much 
higher and more consequential character than the poor acquisition of any such 
elective power. It is an endeavor to place the safety and protection of the city 
against fire upon the basis of a self-dependent, efficient system ; one that does 
not claim from age, or manhood, or boyhood, as a duty, to turn out and give pro- 
tection against fires, at the exposure of health, and often of life. On the con- 
trary, it takes the protection of the city on itself. It asks of the citizens, not 
immediately interested, only to keep away. It depends on its own disci i)hne, 
practice, force of machinery, and engines ; and relies not at all on the reluctant 
aid of casual bystanders. 

This system is inevitable in a full-grown state of society. If our citizens do 

1 For these extracts see pp. 181, 182. 



190 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

not realize, or will not admit the necessity of it itou; the adoption is only post- 
poned. Come it will. The great teacher, calamity, which has already spoken 
once and t^we, will speak again and again, nntil its voice is heard. 

If, then, the effect of the bill is to rest in the City Council the choice of the 
firewards, it is because that the powers and relations of lireward.s, in a system 
destined to give protection without calling in the aid of the nuiltitudc present, 
are different from their powers and relations in a system like our present one, 
based upon depending on the aid of that multitude altogether. 

Thirty-six men, coe(pial in power, every three of whom have a right to 
command, are wholly incompatible with a system, which is of the nature of an 
organized force, having a head and members subordinate to each other; and in 
•which responsibility is precise, direct, and individual. 

It will, therefore, be seen by my fellow-citizens, that the real question to be 
decided by them, on the acceptance and rejection of the bill, relates to the two 
systems, — that which now exists, and that which is recommended. 

So tar as the tjuestion affects the elective franchise, it depends upon another 
question ; and that is, whether the City Council, the constitutional and respon- 
sible representative of all the citizens, be, or be not, the proper bod)- to be in- 
trusted with the organization of the fire department of the city ? 

Upon the general expediency of retaining the present system, wdiich is 
founded on the practicability of commanding the aid of the whole multitude pre- 
sent at fires, I ask my fellow-citizens to consult not only recent experience, but 
also to reflect on the actual relations of our population. Is it not becoming every 
day less and less homogeneous ? By emigration and the constant infusion of 
foreigners, ai-e not the sympathies among citizens, considered merely as such, 
diminishing ? Has not an increased disposition to take advantage of fires, as 
occasions for plunder, been manifested of late years ? Must it not be Inevitable 
in every city with an increasing population ? What right has this cit}- to expect 
an exemption from the common lot of humanity in great cities ? 

In making this elucidation, I am sensible that I have exposed myself to the 
charge of unsuitable obtruslveness. But I am Avilling to submit to this, or to 
any other like censure, rather than to have the conviction, which I should other- 
wise have felt, that I had failed in my duty to a people to whom I owe so ma' 
obligations for the confidence they have reposed In me. 

INIy great purpose will be answered, if I can draw the attention of my fel- 
low-citizens to the real nature of the (juestlon ; and that, when decided, an un- 
equivocal expression of their opinion should be given by the number of their 
suffrages ; and that it should not be left, as some questions have been of late, to 
the decision of a few individuals in the vicinity of the Hall, or who had a parti- 
cular interest in the subject. 

The (juestlon deejjly interests the fate of the whole city. Only let then the 
voice of the whole city be heard. 

Your fellow-citizen, 

4tli July, 182.5. Josiah Quixcy. 

The responsil)ility thus assumed by the Mayor was received 
with those opposite demonstrations, of censure and praise, which, 
in a republic, every public officer may expect who throws openly 



CITY GOVEEXMENT. 191 

his personal or official influence into the scale, on questions 
deeply agitating contending parties. By one set of men, it was 
characterized as " obtrusive," " busy," " meddlesome," " using his 
short-lived authority to augment the power and perpetuate the 
influence of his office." By another, it was denominated "a 
noble spu-it of independence in a chief magistrate, who, holding 
his office by the popular voice, intrepidly takes the hazard of 
lending publicly all his influence to a measure which he believes 
will be attended with important and salutary consequences, re- 
gardless of the manner in which it may affect his personal popu- 
larity," The result proved the propriety and necessity of these 
measures. The meeting, on the seventh of July, as was antici- 
pated, proved one of great struggle and excitement. Upwards 
of twenty-five kundred votes ivcre cast; and, so powerful and 
general was the opposition, that the question in favor of adopt- 
ing the system was decided by a majority of only one hundred 
and eight ij-three votes ! On so critical an issue did a question, 
thus vital to the safety and prosperity of the city, turn ! 

Thus, after an open and active struggle, the organization of an 
independent fire department received the support of the citizens 
of Boston ; and, from that time, a systematic course of measures 
was steadily pursued for carrying the projected organization into 
effect, with the general cooperation of the citizens, without any 
obstruction, except by attempts to injure the apparatus of the de- 
partment, by cutting the hose, by a few unknown and unprinci- 
pled individuals. A committee of both branches of the City 
Council, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Blake and Welsh, 
and Messrs. Williams, Barry, Boies, and Wiley, of the Common 
Council, was appointed to prepare an ordinance in conformity 
with the act of the Legislature. But difficulties yet lingering 
among some .classes of citizens, rendered delay expedient ; and 
the details of this ordinance were not conclusively settled and 
sanctioned by the City Council until the end of December. 
Time was also required to obtain the engines and apparatus 
ordered from New York and Philadelphia, which postponed the 
final organization of the fire department until the ensuing muni- 
cipal year, now, for the first time, about to commence in Janu- 
ary. 

During the controversy on the new system, the Committee of 
the City Council selected sites for engine houses; not on the 



192 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

principle of economical and temporary expediency hitherto chiefly 
regarded, but such as were best adapted to facilitate easy com- 
munication with the most exposed or populous parts of the city. 
With these views, they selected a site on Pemberton Hill, now 
No. 9, Tremont Row, a location in the vicinity of the elevated 
streets on Beacon Hill, nearly opposite the entrance of Hanover 
Street and other avenues descending to the north, by which aid 
could be easily extended to sections of the city the most populous 
and exposed to conflagration. They also desired to widen and im- 
prove the great thoroughfare over Pemberton Hill, then steep and 
inconvenient, and in the winter season often dangerous. These 
objects were regarded so important, that the City Council au- 
thorized an offer of twenty-five hundred dollars for about five 
hundred feet of land, which the proprietor rejected. The price of 
the land was therefore deemed an insurmountable obstacle to the 
project. An unanticipated transaction, however,^ enabled the 
city authorities to obtain the space the improvement required 
for nothing;. The proprietor of the remaining land, therefore, 
was now induced to accept an offer of three thousand dollars 
for an adjoining lot, on which an engine house was erected of 
granite, on the model of the Choragic monument at Athens, and 
the engine and hydraulion purchased at Piiiladelphia were placed 
in it. The cost of this edifice was justified, in the opinion of the 
city government, by the circumstances under which the improve- 
ment and purchase had been effected; by the satisfaction a 
building so ornamental to the street gave to the proprietors of 
estates in the vicinity, who had objected to the erection of an 
engine house in their neighborhood ; and, above all, by the con- 
sideration that, such were the peculiar facilities of that location 
for the protection of the city, that its future alienation ^ was 
deemed improbable, and its appropriation to that object would, 
therefore, be permanent. 

In October, 1825, the City Council appropriated fifteen hun- 
dred dollars for the construction of two reservoirs. Notwith- 
standing their utter insufficiency for the requisite supply of 
water, they were all that could be obtained. Pumps, buckets, 

1 The facts relative to this transaction were officially stated in the Boston 
Courier, of the 9th of November, 1825. 

2 This lot and the building has been recently (1851) sold, in cash, for eleven 
thousand four hundred and iifty dollars 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 193 

and lanes of citizens continued to be considered, by many, as 
more efRcient for the supply of the engines than hose. They re- 
garded the new fire department as an experiment, and of very 
dubious result. In this opinion, some even of the City Council 
coincided. A desti'uctive fire which, on the tenth of November, 
1825, occurred in Court Street, awakened the citizens again to 
the existing deficiency of water, and of the inadequacy of the 
ancient means of applying it with efficient force to the flames ; 
and a committee of the City C'ouncil, of which John Bellows 
was chairman, reported a resolve, which was accepted in both 
branches, by which an adequate appropriation was made for 
the building of thirteen reservoirs, in addition to the tivo already 
authorized, each to be of a capacity to contain two limidred and 
fifty liog-stieads ; which was immediately carried into effect. 

In January, 1825, information was received, that C4eneral La- 
fayette had accepted an invitation to be present and aid in lay- 
ing the corner stone of the Bunker Hill Monument; that he 
would, in consequence, revisit Boston, and probably be in the 
city on the anniversary of national independence. By a com- 
mittee df the City Council, appointed to take suitable measures 
on the occasion, the Mayor was requested to address a letter to 
General Lafayette, expressing the gratification of the City Coun- 
cil at receiving this information, and the universal satisfaction 
of the citizens of Boston at the anticipation of his presence at that 
interesting ceremony. Lafayette, in reply, announced his inten- 
tion to be present at Bunker's Hill on the seventeenth of June ; 
but that a recent family bereavement placed it out of his power 
to be present on the fourth of July at the city celebration. In- 
formation was also received from another source, that Lafayette 
had accepted the invitation of the Hon. James Lloyd, a senator 
from Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States, to 
reside in his family during his visit to the city. 

Notwithstanding this information, on his arrival in Boston, in 
the month of June, a vote passed the City Council, authorizing 
the Mayor and Aldermen " to make sucli arrangements for his 
honorable reception and entertainment, during his residence in 
the city, as they may deem expedient and proper." Under an- 
other vote of the City Council, both branches of the city govern- 
ment waited on Lafayette, on the sixteenth of June, at the man- 
sion of Mr. Lloyd, to offer their respects and congi-atulations on 
17 



194 MUNICirAL HISTORY. 

his return to Boston, after his auspicious and successful progress 
through the United States. 

In March preceding, the Mayor had been authorized, by a vote 
of the City Council, to procure a portrait of General Lafayette, 
" to be taken at such time as will suit his convenience, and to 
draw his warrant for the amount." 

To this application of the Mayor, Lafayette replied, that it 
would not be in his power to comply, during the short period he 
expected then to remain in the United States ; but that, after 
his return to France, should it be desu-ed, he would with great 
pleasure obey the wishes of the city. At the same time, he ob- 
served to the Mayor, that it was hardly possible for a better like- 
ness to be obtained than that which had been recently taken of 
him by P. Schoefler, one of the first artists in France, just before 
he commenced his visit to the United States, fine engravings 
from which were then of common and easy attainment. 

In July, 1824, a Committee of both branches, consisting of the 
Mayor, and Alderman Benjamin, with Messrs. Prouty, Russell, 
and Hartshorne, of the Common Council, was raised to consider 
the expediency of authorizing the Surveyors of Highways to 
cause a prospective plan and elevation of all the streets in the 
city, to be made, to comprehend, as far as possible, all future 
improvements, as opportunities may occur. 

This Committee reported, in September following, expressing 
their opinion, that it would be gi'eatly for the public interest if 
such a system of surveys should be adopted ; that the present 
course of proceeding originates in, and is limited by, the im- 
mediate exigency of the particular estate on which any owner 
proposes to build ; that the Mayor and Aldermen, after surveying 
the estate, only decide how far the street shall be widened by 
taking from that estate. In doing this, they have no authority 
to lay out a prospective plan of any street, and to guide their 
proceedings by an enlarged view of the greatest improvement 
which the general relations of the street would permit, so as to 
become obligatory on their successors ; they are therefore reduced 
to the prudential course of widening each street to such a rea- 
sonable line, as no future Board of Aldermen would hesitate to 
adopt, in relation to otiier estates, when an opportunity of fur- 
ther widening should occur. The consequence of which is, that 
the widening of streets, not being governed by any established 



CITY GOVERN^IENT. 195 

prospective plan, amounts, for the most part, only to the cutting 
ofT angles and removing occasional projections, and n^sults in 
leaving, after all is done, a sightless, irregular outline ; and 
that, often in cases where, if a bolder line could be taken with 
the assurance of its being completed, improvements of an im- 
portant character might be made, with the acquiescence of the 
landholder, and with ultimate gain, in point of expense, to the 
city. 

The tendency of the present system is as little calculated to 
give satisfaction to the owners of estates, as to promote the im- 
provement of the public streets. For, in general, owners of 
estates would readily acquiesce (on being compensated) in very 
considerable reduction of their lands, for the sake of widening 
streets, provided they could have the assurance that, in future 
time, the particular specified line to which their estates were cut 
down, should be from time to time extended, and become the 
permanent line of the streets. 

An established prospective plan, such as is suggested, would 
also be greatly beneficial in reducing the claims for compensa- 
tion, on the taking of such lands by the public. For, the par- 
ticular line of the street, being established by the city author- 
ities, recorded, and published, every subsequent purchaser of an 
estate bounding on such street, would acquire it with full notice 
of the fact, and could have no claim or pretence of damages on 
account of calculations made, or prices given, in ignorance of 
the intention of the city authorities. 

In conformity with these views, the Committee reported 
three resolutions, which were, in March, 1825, adopted by the 
City Council, in the following terms : — 

Resolved. That the Mayor and Aldermen cause surveys of 
the streets of the city to be made on a prospective plan, embracing, 
in relation to each street, as far as possible, the greatest ultimate 
practical improvement of such street, both as it respects widen- 
ing and elevation ; and that they cause such plan of each street, 
as it shall be completed, together with a plan of the particular 
estate affected by such proposed improvement, and the estimated 
expense for carrying the same into effect, to be laid before the 
City Council ; and that they continue such surveys until a com- 
plete prospective plan of the streets of the city shall be made 
and established. 



196 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Resolred. That, when snc-h surveys shall be approved by the 
City Council, the same shall be entered in a book, to be kept for 
that purpose, to be entitled, " The Book of the Prospective Plans 
for the Improvement of the Streets of the City of Boston." 

Resolved. That, whenever such prospective plan of improve- 
ment in any street shall be approved and recorded, it shall be the 
duty of the Mayor, for the time being, to give iinblic notice 
thereof in two at least of the newspapers published in this city, 
that all persons may know the same and govern themselves 
accordingly. 

Surveys of the sti-eets, on the principles of this report, were 
immediately commenced, and early steps taken to carry its pro- 
visions into effect. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1826. 
JosiAH QuiNCY,' Mayor. 

Prosperity of the City — INIeasures for introducing Water — Views of the ]\Iayor 
on the Subject— Proceedings of the City Council — Powers of the Mayor in 
the Suppression of Riots — Petitions for a general Contribution for Relief by 

. Sufferers from Fire — The Result — Progress of Faneull Hall INIarket — Final 
Settlement of the whole Improvement — Organization of the new Fire De- 
partment— Celebration of the Fourth of July, 18 20 — Death of John Adams 
and Thomas Jclierson — Tribute to their Memories. 

The Mayor, in his inaugural adclress,^ noticed the difficulty of 
satisfying the conflicting passions and interests always existing 
in a great community, and the happy eff'ects of the wisdom, har- • 
mony, and public spirit of former city councils on the prosperity 
of the city. It appeared from the recent city census that, during 
the past five years, the comparative increase of its population 
equalled that of any of our maritime cities, on the basis of its 
previous numbers. While the aggregates of property valuation 
had increased, the ratio of taxes had diminished. Although ad- 
vancing wealth and population had unavoidably augmented the 
amount of taxes, yet there had been, in every successive year 
since the existence of our city government, a decrease in the 
amount of uncollected taxes. The expenditures, in respect of 
their objects, had been apparently satisfactory to a majority of 
the citizens; and the establishment of the office of auditor of 
accounts had introduced an order, simplicity, and correctness in 
that department highly creditable and advantageous. The atten- 
tion of the City Council was now directed to the importance of 
obtaining for the city " a never-failing supply of pure river or 

t The whole number of votes cast were 139.5, of which .Josiah Quincy had 
1202. The Aldermen were Daniel Carney, John Bellows, Josiah Marshall, 
Tliomas Welsh, Jun., Henry J. Oliver, John T. Loring, Francis Jackson, and 
Edward H. Robliins, Jun. 

2 See Appendix, E. 

17* 



198 MUMCIPAL HISTORY. 

pond water," which had been enforced by the urgency of physi- 
cians ; and the Mayor, having received information that an asso- 
ciation, formed for that purpose, contemplated an apphcation to 
the Legislature for the requisite powers, expressed a hope that- 
the project would be met by the City Council " with the most 
decided and strenuous opposition, and with a corresponding 
spirit and determination to effect the great object solely on the 
account and with the resources of the city;" at the same time, 
" declaring it explicitly to be his opinion that, on that subject, 
the city ought to consent to no copartnership " 

Four days after these views had been thus pubhcly expressed 
by the Mayor, Pati'ick T. Jackson, a citizen commanding, by his 
talents, character, and enterprise, the entire confidence of the 
community, associated with other individuals of wealth and in- 
fluence, petitioned the City Council to assist them in obtaining 
from the Legislature an act of incorporation, giving them author- 
ity "to construct an aqueduct, for the purpose of conveying 
into the city a sufficient quantity of fresh water for the use of 
the inhabitants, and for the extinguishing of fires." This peti- 
tion was referred to a committee, consisting of the Mayor, Al- 
derman Welsh, and Messrs. Bassett, Hallett, and Brooks, of the 
Common Council. The Committee and City Council, coincid- 
ing in the views of the Mayor, the application received a decided 
negative. Nothing elTectual was done in consequence of this 
movement. The Committee charged with the subject held vari- 
ous meetings, in which discussions were had concerning Neponset 
and Charles Rivers, as sources of supply ; and the Mayor, on his 
own authority, obtained contracts securing conditional rights of 
purchase, for the city, of a majority of the lower water rights on 
both those rivers, at stipulated prices, dependent upon the sanc- 
tion of the City Council within a limited time. The impression 
concerning the importance of the subject, though generally ac- 
knowledged, was far from being universal ; and no willingness 
to increase the city debt, for the attainment of the object, was 
manifested. The claims of the proprietors of the sources of 
water were regarded as too extravagant to be presented for con- 
sideration to the City Council. The Mayor, therefore, having, 
as he thought, sufficiently impressed the City Council and the 
citizens with the importance of retaining the right of inti-oducing 
water from the resources of the city alone, without the instru- 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 199 

mentality of private associations; and deeming it best for its 
interests to wait for times when .the m-gent wants of the inhabit- 
ants should counteract the prevailing apprehension of a city- 
debt, forbore any further to m'ge the subject upon the attention 
of the City Council. 

Dm-ing the year 1825, the Mayor was called upon to suppress 
riots on two occasions. On the first, the object of the exertion 
of his official authority had no precedent. After consulting the 
Board of Aldermen, in order to be able, in case of any similar 
emergency, to justify before a legal tribunal such exercise of 
authority as ciix-umstances might requke, he submitted to coun- 
sel learned in the law the nature of the powers vested in the 
office of Mayor by the city charter, applicable to such occasions. 
The result of their opinion being, that riots, routs, and unlaw- 
ful assemblies were only cognizable under the laws of the Com- 
monwealth ; and that the course of proceeding, and the persons 
intrusted with their execution, were expressly pointed out in 
those laws, among whom the Mayor of the city was not in- 
cluded ; and that, although it was his duty, in the language of 
the charter, " to cause all laws for the government of the city 
to be duly executed and put in force ; " yet, that it was a question 
of some doubt how far his authority extended in respect of the 
general laws of the Commonwealth, the execution of which was 
intrusted to other authorities. It was therefore deemed most 
safe and pradent for the Mayor to act as "justice of the peace 
throughout the Commonwealth," concerning whose powers in 
such cases there could be no possible question. Accordingly, 
• the Mayor, in that capacity, with a strong pofice, assisted by 
well-disposed citizens, who volunteered their services, proceeded 
to the scene of riot, and dispersed the assembly in the course 
prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth, arresting some 
of the offenders and sending others to prison. 

On a subsequent occasion, in the case of a distm-bance at 
a theatre, the Mayor, on finding that a justice of the peace was 
in actual fulfilment of the duties of that office, with all the 
powers vested in him by law, refused personally to interfere, 
deeming it for the interest of the city that the views he enter- 
tained of the powers of his office should be distinctly and ]:)rac- 
tically manifested to the citizens and the public, to the end that, 
if the Mayor was to be held responsible to act in all such cases, 



200 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

his powers might be accurately defined and his duties prescribed 
by law; deeming himself as much bound to abstain, as Mayor, 
from assuming to exercise powers not vested in him by his 
office, as it was to exercise those with which he was intrusted. 

These views he accordingly spread before the City Council in 
this inaugural address. 

In January, 1826, petitions from several towns in the State of 
Maine, whose inhabitants had suffered from fires, praying that a 
general contribution might be authorized by the City Council 
for their relief, were referred to the Mayor and Alderman Rob- 
bins, with ]\Iessrs. Morey, Torrey, and Howe, of the Common 
Council. 

After examining into the circumstances of the conflagration 
and of the sufferers, the Committee decided that the City Coun- 
cil were not justified in resorting to the mode of relief sought 
by the petitioners. Their report stated, that the distinguished 
liberality of the citizens of Boston, being unquestionably the 
cause of frequent applications for relief, the city government 
should consider it their duty not to permit the charity of their 
fellow-citizens to be unduly or unseasonably called upon, particu- 
larly in the form of authority, and under the sanction of an offi- 
cial act ; and that their public recommendations of a general 
contribution should be restricted to cases of great and extensive 
calamity, which call for the interposition of a great commu- 
nity. This report was read and accepted in both branches of 
the City Council. 

After the organization of the city government, in January, 
1826, a committee 1 on the extension of Faneuil Hall Market was 
appointed to carry into effect the resolutions of the three last 
City Councils, with the same powers and authorities, and sub- 
ject to the same limitations, as the former committees. On their 
recommendation, the City Council authorized the purchase of the 
land of AVilliam Welsh, the price not to exceed twenty thou- 
sand dollars, but without any appropriation, the cost of the land 
being reimbursed, as was anticipated, by the sale of the city 
lots. A street lying at the north of the north block of stores, 
(now called Clinton,) and extending to Exchange Wharf, was, 

1 The Committee were the jNIayor, Aldermen Bellowsi, ]\Iarshall, and Rob- 
bins, and Messrs. Adan, (President of the Common Council,) Curtis, Hastings, 
Boies, Lodge, Gi'osvenor, and Barnard. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 201 

by the effects of this purchase, obtained without cost to the 
city. In July, this Committee discussed the arrangement of the 
stalls in the new market house; settled the terms on which 
they should be leased, and then voted that the leases should 
be sold at public auction, unless the tenants of the old mar- 
ket house chose to take them at the appraisement. This they 
readily did; and, on the twenty-sixth August, 1826, the new 
market house was opened, for the first time, to the public. 

An order was then passed by the Common Council, that the 
further use of Faneuil Hall, as a market house, should be discon- 
tinued. This was nonconcurred by the board of Aldermen, 
who requested the Mayor to lay before the City Council a state- 
ment of the obligations of the city, resulting from the gift of Peter 
Faneuil, and from the votes passed by the town of Boston in 
reference to that donation. The Mayor, accordingly, made a 
full report, in conformity with that request, in which, after recapi- 
tulating all the chief facts already detailed in this history ,i and 
stating that, after the edifice had been erected on the town's 
land, by Mr. Faneuil, in 1742, and accepted as a market house 
by the inhabitants, they repeatedly shut it up, and did not use it 
for the purpose for which it was given ; and that, it having been 
destroyed by fire in 1761, it was rebuilt at the expense of the 
town, and the inhabitants voted "that the lower part of the 
building should not be improved, as a market, until the further 
order and determination of the town." The Mayor, therefore, 
declared that, in his judgment, no obhgation rested upon the 
city, which could affect any use of the land covered by the 
building called Faneuil Hall the City Council should deem ex- 
pedient ; and votes in conformity with this opinion were passed 
in concurrence with the order of the Common Council. 

On the ninth of November, the superintendent for building the 
new market reported, that all the bills and accounts for erecting 
it, — for labor, materials, and services, were paid, and the whole 
concern in a state to be closed. The Committee then re- 
quested the Mayor to prepare a final report on their proceed- 
ings; which, on the thirteenth of November, he accordingly 
submitted to them, detailing in it the origin of the project, the 
difficulties which had attended its execution, the various changes 

1 See p. 12. 



202 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

of plans and views which liad occnrred in its progress, the 
amount of the moneys which had been under their control, their 
expenditures, the debt created, and the property vested in the 
city by their operations ; concluding with this gratifying result,, 
that " this noble improvement had been completed, not only vnthout 
any addition to the present taxes or burdens of the citizens, but 
atso without the possibility of any addition in future time, on this 
account, to their taxes or burdens ; and, on the contrary, that it has 
augmented, in no inconsiderable degree, the real and productive 
property of the cityy 

This report was accepted by the Committee and by both 
branches of the City Council unanimously .^ 

1 The opinion having been at the time assiduously spread, that this Committee 
had created a debt, whfch it had left no adecpiate funds to discharge ; and even 
at this day (1851) the belief being still entertained by some, that its proceed- 
ings laid tiie foundation of the present city debt, it is due to the memories of 
the members of that Committee, that the actual result of their operations should 
be stated from uncpiestionable documents. 

By the official reports of William Ilayden, Jun., 
'the City Auditor in 182(1, it appears that the 
Committee which erected the market had un- 
der their control, derived from every source . $1,141,272.33 
That of this amount they paid, from sources ob- 
tained exclusively from their own operations, . 532,797.33 

Leaving an apparent debt on the city of . . $608,475.00 

The same Auditor's report shows 
that the Committee delivered 
over to the City Treasurer un- 
questionable demands, amount- 
ing to . . ._ . . S4,560.92 

Andalso good notes on interest, of 
a like unquestionable nature, 
amounting to .... 219,709.82 



Constitutinnj an as^reirate fund, of which the city 

has since"^ availed itself in full, of . . . 224,270.74 

So that the real debt left on the city was only . $384,204.26 

The annual interest on 608,475 dollars, paid by 

the city on the apparent debt, was . . . $31,622.95 

And the annual interest on $219,709.82, the 

available notes delivered the city, was . . 11,109.23 

It results that the annual interest the city has 

ever had to pay was only .... $20,513.72 

As an offset for this delit, and to pay this interest, the Committee vested in the 
city the new market house, with the land it covered (27,000 feet) ; also, certain 
tracts of land, lying to the north of the north block of stores on North ]VIarket 



CITY GOYERXMEXT. 203 

All the preparatory steps being taken, and the principles settled 
for the establishment of a Fire Department, in the preceding year, 
the present City Council, immediately after its organization, 
took measures to carry it into effect. And, in January, 1826, 
they appointed Samuel Devens Harris chief engineer, and aU 
the other engineers and firemen required by the city ordinance. 

Street, containing upwards of 2G,000 feet of land, valued by them at $100,000 : 
also, 142,000 feet of flats and lands, lying at the eastward of the New Market 
House, estimated at the value of another $100,000 by the Committee, in their 
report. 

Concerning the product to the city of these three 
species of jjroperty, it appears, by an official 
statement of Elisha Copeland, the present 
(1851) City Auditor, that, during the last 
twenty-five years, (182G-27 to 18^50-51, in- 
clusive,) the incomes of the city market, after 
deiluctiiiff every jxtyment made on ita account, 
inclurlinr/ sahn'ies and all expenses for carry- 
ing it on, amounted to the net sum of . . $562,4G0.G6 

And that, during the same period, the incomes 
of the City Wharf, Avhicli had been built in 
1831, at an expense of $18,856.75, on the 
flats, vested in the city by the Committee, 
after deducting the cost of its erection, abovc- 
mentioned, and adding the incomes from the 
tracts of land lying to the north of the North 
Market Street block, amounted to the net 
sum of 1G2,002.SG 



So that the net incomes of the pro^ierty, during 
twenty-five years, therefore, (icithout including 
the vcdue of the last-mentioned tracts of land, 
which icas received in full hy the city, by sides 
and application of it to city uses,) amounted to S724,4G3.52 

Equivalent to an annual income of . . . $28,970.00 

To discharge the annual income of the debt cre- 
ated, amounting, as above stated, to . . 20,513.72 



Leaving to the city an annual surplus of interest, 

amounting to $8,45G.28 



And. by way of equivalent or offset for the debt 
of $384,204.26, created for the city by the 
Committee, they vested in the city the new 
market, which never has been estimated at 
less than $500,000.00 

And the City "VYliarf and flats, which, although 
usually estimated much higher, can, at tliis 
day (1851), without fear oi contradiction, be 
valued at 400,000.00 



This being the fund provided, by way of ofiset, 

for a debt of about $384,000 .... $900,000.00 



204 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

There were circumstances which rendered th acceptance of the 
office of chief engineer by INIi-. Harris of great importance, at 
the first organization of the department. He was a man of 
known judgment and prudence ; of tried ess ; a soldier in 

spirit; and, as far as the events of his life had permitted, by 
education. He distinguished himself as a cavaky officer, in 
almost every battle on the Canadian frontier, in 1814 ; and was 
generally regarded as singularly qualified to introduce order and 
subordination into the department. The state of his health 
rendered him, at first, unwilling to accept the office, as it would 
subject him to gi-eat exertion and exposure; but he at length 
yielded to the solicitations of the Mayor and City Council. 
Soon after entering upon the duties of the office of chief en- 
gineer, Ml-. Harris requested the Mayor not to bring the subject 
of his salary before the City Council ; assigning as a reason for 
this request that, having the command of a department consist- 
ing wholly of uncompensated volunteers, he thought his useful- 
ness would be disadvantageously affected by his acceptance of 
a salary. 

Mr. Harris held his oflice nearly three years ; and all the anti- 
cipations which occasioned his appointment were realized. A 
spirit, in every respect noble, fearless, and disinterested, charac- 
terized his whole conduct at the head of the department ; and, 
as he never asked, he never received any compensation for a long 
series of invaluable services. 

In the course of arrangements attending the new organization 
of the fire department, troubles of various kinds occm-red, and 

In addition to which, the Committee vested in the city, free of expense, six 
streets, as follows, namely : — 

1. South INIarket Street, of the ] 

width of . . . . ) 

2. North Maiket Street . 

3. The street leadinn; from Long ") 

Wharf, now constituting part |- 
of Commercial Street . ) 

4. Clinton Street 

5. The Koebuck Passage, now ) 

part of IMerchants' llow, . j 
G. Chatham Street 

6-1,193 



Feet. 




Feet. 


102 


and containing 


53,843 


Go 




34,080 


65 




30,100 


40 




20,490 


35 




5,120 


40 




20,560 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 205 

several evidences of hostility were manifested. One engine 
company refused to communicate water at fires with another 
engine company, because it was composed of minors, though 
they were full grown and of sufficient strength. Another, whose 
captain had been dismissed by the IMayor and Aldermen, voted 
that, notwithstanding his dismissal, they should consider him 
their captain, and, as such, obey his orders. In both cases, the 
companies were dissolved, the engines taken from them and 
committed to new companies, which were immediately formed. 
Two of the city engines were disabled, in the night tisne, and 
then' hose cut. This occurred several times at fires ; and, al- 
though a reward of five hundred dollars was offered for detection 
of the offenders, it was without effect. Other dispositions to 
embarrass the operations of the new department were mani- 
fested. All the arrangements for carrying it into full eflicacy 
were not completed until the twenty -fourth of April ensuing; 
when the Mayor issued his proclamation, declaring the fire de- 
partment of the city duly organized, and that it would go into 
effect on the twenty-ninth of that month, which it did accord- 
ingly. 

Votes of thanks were passed by the City Council to those 
citizens who had volunteered their services to take the engines 
when they were thrown up by the old companies ; and " to the 
members of the late Board of Firewards, for their faithful, active, 
and disinterested services in support of the measures for organ- 
izing the fire department." This last acknowledgment was 
highly deserved by the old firewards. Notwithstanding its ne- 
cessary effect was to put an end to the existence of their own 
board, the support they gave to the new department was uni- 
formly open and decided, and their influence largely contributed 
to its ultimate success. 

Owing to the defective state of the old engines, the gi-eat de- 
ficiency of hose, the necessity of fitting up all the engines and 
engine houses, in a style of greater neatness and convenience 
than had been before customary, as also, the constructing of reser- 
vou's, the amount of expenditure exceeded twenty thousand dol- 
lars. But the efficiency manifested by the department was so 
universally felt and acknowledged, that the call for adequate 
appropriations was met by the City Council with readiness, and 
by the citizens without complaint. To check, as far as possible, 
18 



206 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

an excess of expenditures, to which a department involving so 
many and such a diversity of claims was peculiarly Uable, the 
Mayor recommended, and the City Council ordained, that they 
should be placed under the special superintendence of a joint 
committee of the City Council, without whose authority no ex- 
penditure exceeding fifty dollars should be incurred. By the 
course of measures above specified, a spirit of zeal and activity 
was infused into the fire department, chiefly resulting from the 
exertions, judgment, and fidelity of the chief and assistant en- 
gineers, which gradually introduced into it harmony and subor- 
dination, highly honorable to them and satisfactory to the citi- 
zens. 

In April, 1826, the Rev. Henry Ware, Jun., was appointed 
the city orator for the then ensuing fourth of July, which he 
accepted; but the state of his health compelled him, on the 
nineteenth of June, to decline fulfilling his engagement. The 
Committee of the City Council appointed on this communication 
reported, that " an invitation should be given to the Hon. Josiah 
Quincy to pronounce the address on that anniversary ; that the 
brief period now allowed for preparation seemed to preclude the 
probability of any of the younger gentlemen from accepting the 
delivery of the address, which, with the singular interest attached 
to the fiftieth anniversary, rendered it peculiarly proper that the 
appointment should be made of a citizen who, from his age, 
may be presumed to have witnessed some of the events, and to 
have imbibed the spirit which led to our Revolution. Your 
Committee believe that the zeal and interest the Mayor is known 
to feel and manifest in every thing relating to the city will in- 
duce him, notwithstanding his multiplied official avocations, to 
accept this appointment, if such should be the wish of the City 
Council." 

A resolution, in conformity with this report, was passed unani- 
mously by both branches. 

The Mayor, having delivered an oration on the same occasion 
in 1798, was anxious to avoid a repetition of the effort; but 
finding that the short time for preparation, — the remaining days 
allowed, — was an insuperable obstacle to every citizen solicited 
to take the appointment, he deemed it his ofl^cial duty, and ac- 
ceded to the request of the City Council.^ 

1 See Appendix L. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 207 

This anniversary was rendered memorable by the death of 
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom had been 
signers, on that day fifty years before, of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and both having filled the office of President of the 
United States. 

On the fifth of July, at a special meeting of the Mayor and 
Aldermen, the record states : " This Board, having received 
notice of the afflictive dispensation of Divine Providence, in the 
death of the Hon. John Adams, formerly President of the United 
States, on the fourth of July instant, thereupon. 

Resolved, That Aldermen Bellows, Marshall, Welsh, Oliver, 
and Loring, with such as the Common Council may join, be a 
committee to consider and adopt such measures as they may 
deem expedient, to express the sense of the eminent worth and 
public services of the deceased entertained by the citizens of 
Boston, in common with their fellow-citizens of the United 
States; and also, their sorrow at this bereavement, which has 
deprived this State of one of its most honored and cherished 
sons, and the American nation of a most eminent patriot and 
distinguished statesman." 

The Common Council, in concurrence, joined, on its part, 
Messrs. Curtis, Grosvenor, Gray, Waters, Lodge, Hallet, and 
Rice. 

This Committee reported : " That it would be proper for the 
Mayor and Aldermen and Common Council, accompanied by 
their Clerks and City Marshal, to attend the funeral of their 
distinguished fellow-citizen at Quincy; that the bells of the 
city should be tolled on that day from four to five o'clock ; that 
it be recommended to the masters and owners of the vessels in 
the harbor, to cause their colors to be hoisted at half mast ; and 
the citizens to close their places of business on the afternoon of 
said day, as a mark of respect for the deceased." 

On the tenth of July, when news first reached the city of the 
death of Thomas Jefferson, a joint committee, of which Alder- 
man Bellows was Chairman, was raised to consider what mea- 
sm'es were proper to be adopted on the occasion. This Com- 
mittee reported as follows : — 

" The Joint Committee, who were charged to consider and report what mea- 
sures it would be proper for the City Council to adopt, expressive of the respect 
entertained by the city for the eminent services of the late John Adams and 



208 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Thomas Jefferson, have the honor to report, that they view the almost simulta- 
neous decease of these distinguished statesmen as a dispensation of Divine Pro- 
vidence, which will be deeply felt by the whole American nation. 

" That these venerable champions of liberty should have commenced their 
political career at the same time ; should have sustained the same important 
trusts and high offices; should have each contributed so essentially to the achiev- 
inoof our independence ; should have lived to see their children's ehildren realize 
the blessings of that independence which, fifty years before, they jointly risked 
their lives to secure to them ; and should at last be summoned, on the same 
day, and almost at the same hour, to receive the reward of their virtue and 
patriotism, constitute a coincidence without parallel in the history of the 
world. 

" That either of these ancient men should have been spared to witness hig 
nation's jubilee, was not to be expected in the usual course of human events ; 
but that both should attain to that felicitous moment, enjoying such a degree of 
health, as not only to be conscious of their privilege, but to participate in the 
general exultation of that day, is an event which seems to mark the hand and 
special presence of that Being by whose unerring wisdom we are governed, and 
by whose beneficence we are protected and sustained. The lives of these great 
men have been no less distinguished than their deaths are remarkable; and 
your Committee are of opinion, that they ought to be commemorated by a dis- 
course delivered on this solemn and impressive occasion ; and they have reason to 
believe that, if it was known to be the wish of his fellow-citizens, an individual, 
eminent for his talents and public services, in whom the confidence and pride of 
this city are justly centred, would be induced to undertake the performance of 
this honorable but delicate trust. 

" The Committee, therefore, recommend the adoption of the following reso- 
lutions : — 

" 1. Resoh-ed, That it is due to the eminent patriotism and distinguished 
public services of the late John Adams and Thomas Jt-lferson, that their lives 
and characters should be commemorated in a public discourse. 

" 2. Resolved, That it is the wish of the City Council, that this discourse should 
be delivered by the Hon. Daniel Webster ; and the Mayor is hereby author- 
ized and requested to invite that gentleman, in the name and on behalf of the 
authorities of this city, to pronounce the same, as early as his convenience will 
permit. 

" 3. Resolved, That the Mayor and Aldormen and Common Council will unite 
with their felloAv-citizens in the solemn exercises of the day (to be appointed) ; 
and that the citizens be requested to close their several places of business, and 
masters of vessels to display their colors at half mast, during the movement of 
the procession and the performance of the exercises." 

This report was accepted, and the resolutions adopted unani- 
mously, in both branches ; and an order was passed, appointing 
the Committee who reported these resolutions to make the neces- 
sary preparations for the reception of the audience in FaneuU 
Hall, to arrange the order of procession, and with authority 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 209 

to make such arrangements as they shall deem suitable and pro- 
per for the occasion. 

Daniel Webster having accepted the invitation of the city- 
authorities, they, with distinguished public functionaries in- 
vited on the occasion, among whom were the President of the 
United States and the Governor of the Commonwealth, the 
officers of various public institutions, and the citizens in gene- 
ral, formed a procession, on the second of August, 1826, from 
the State House to Faneuil Hall, which was hung and carpeted 
with black and appropriately decorated, where, in presence of 
a numerous audience, after prayers by the Rev. Dr. Lowell, ]\Ir. 
Webster delivered an eloquent discourse on the character and 
services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. 

The bells of the city were tolled ; minute guns fired ; the 
shipping lowered their flags to half-mast ; the stores were closed ; 
business suspended ; and no demonstration of respect was omit- 
ted. 



18 



CHAPTER XV. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1827. 

JosiAH QuLXCY, Mayor.^ 

General Relations of the City — Views concerning the City Debt — The Loca- 
tion of a City Hall — The Responsibility tor the Correctness of the Voting 
Lists — General State of the Schools — Proceedings of the City Council in 
Relation to them — School Committee object to their Literference, and claim 
Independence — Opening of the Hancock School — High School tor Girls 
established as an Experiment — Its Result — The School discontinued, and 
the Privileges of Females in the Common Schools extended — The Relation 
of the JNIayor to the School Committee. 

The Mayor, in his inaugural address,- stated the general rela- 
tions of the city ; its increasing population ; the advance of its 
improvements ; and the indications given of the satisfaction of 
the citizens with the general conduct of their afiairs. Since the 
government had been changed from a town to a city, its debt had 
been increased, in round numbers, from one hundred thousand 
to one million of dollars. The wisdom and fidelity of the public 
agents who incurred this debt must be tested by the permanent 
and important character of the objects attained by its creation. 
These were the acquisition of the lands west of Charles Street, 
and the property vested in the city by the Committee for the 
extension of Faneuil Hall Market. The value of the property 
thus acquired was equivalent to the discharge of the whole of 
the then existing city debt, besides adding a large surplus to 
its revenues. Nearly half a million of dollars had been expended 
during the same period in improvements of a permanent and 
prospective usefulness, having a direct influence on the future 
convenience and prosperity of the city. No public debt could be 

1 The whole number of votes were 2629 ; of which the INIayor had 2189. 
The Aldermen were .Tames Savage, Thomas Kendall, Phineas Upham, John 

T. Loring, Robert Fenuelly, John Pickering, James Hall, Samuel T. Arm- 
strong. 

2 See Appendix, F. 



CITY GOVERNIMENT. 211 

justified on sti'onger grounds than that which the city govern- 
ment, with a fearless and independent spirit, and in a just con- 
fidence in the judgment and intelligence of their fellow-citizens, 
had incurred. Their arrangements had already lessened to a 
comparatively narrow sphere the necessity of future expendi- 
tures ; and the remaining duty was to finish the improvements, 
to correct existing establishments, and to apply the means in 
their possession to the gradual extinction of the city debt. To 
this object, the Mayor recommended the specific appropriation 
of the whole property and its incomes, transferred to the city 
by the Committee for the extension of Faneuil Hall Market ; it 
being, in his judgment, not proper to consider property, thus 
obtained, as a subject of complete ownership, until the debt for 
which it was incurred is paid. For this purpose, he recom- 
mended that those funds should be placed under the supervision 
of commissioners, composed of public officers, ex officio, ap- 
pointed by the City Council. 

The erection of a new court house and a city hall were, at this 
time, subjects of discussion and controversy. The Mayor, deem- 
ing it greatly for the interest of the city, that the intercourse 
between the departments should be convenient and easy, recom- 
mended Faneuil Hall as the most suitable location for their 
accommodation. His views, were, however, at variance with 
interests, opinions, and views of citizens, in different parts of the 
city, and resulted in a still further postponement of the concen- 
tration of the city offices in one building. 

At this period, great complaints existed on the subject of 
the voting lists; and the question was agitated with some 
warmth, — whether the responsibility for their correctness rested, 
as it did under the town government, on the Assessors ; or whe- 
ther it was not devolved upon the Mayor and Aldermen, by the 
terms of the city charter. The discussion ultimately resulted in 
the opinion, that the labor of making out the voting lists, of 
comparing them with their books, and certifying their correctness, 
were the duties of the Assessors ; but that the Mayor and Alder- 
men were responsible for the time, form, and manner in which it 
should be done. In conformity with this result, the Mayor and 
Aldermen constituted the Mayor a sub-committee, to superintend 
the making out the voting lists ; to resort, in cases of difficulty 
for advisement to the whole Board ; it appearing to them, that 



2] 2 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the duty of general superintendence and direction, and the exer- 
cise of a sound judgment, concerning all the gi-eat municipal 
relations of the city, particularly those which immediately af- 
fected the elective franchise, was devolved on the Mayor and 
Aldermen, by the express terms of the city charter. 

For three years after the organization of the city government, 
no important addition was made to the number or expenses of 
the public schools, except the erection of the Hancock School, 
under the administration of Mr. Phillips, and its completion 
under his successor. By a report of the School Committee, 
made in October, 1822, it appears that " the general state of the 
schools was satisfactory ;" but regret was expressed, that " many 
parents were indifferent as to sending their children to school;" 
" and that, with regard to regularity of attendance," the negli- 
gence of both parents and children was excessive. 

In the last year of the town government, (July, 1821,) a 
school for mutual insti-uction had been established by the votes 
of the inhabitants. In August, 1822, on the petition of several 
citizens, stating that " the experiment had succeeded admirably ;" 
and that, in their opinion, more intellectual activity, a greater 
degree of interest in studies, of readiness in learning, and of 
punctuality, may be produced under that than under the prevail- 
ino- system ; that the expense would be less ; the present cost for 
the insti-uction of each scholar being twelve dollars and fifty cents 
per annum, while that proposed would be less than four dol- 
lars, the School Committee voted that the Hancock School 

should, until otherwise ordered, be appropriated to give the sys- 
tem a fair trial. 

These proceedings were not acceptable to the City Council, 
who, on the twenty-first of October, 1822, voted, that " it was 
not expedient to make the alterations in the Hancock School 
contemplated by the School Committee." This vote, and also 
an order, passed by the City Council, in May preceding, " author- 
izing the School Committee to elect instructors for the pubhc 
schools, to remove them, and fix their salaries," were regarded 
by the School Committee as " an interference with powers dele- 
gated to them by the citizens;" and, on the twenty-first of No- 
vember, 1822, a sub-committee of that body, in a labored report, 
maintained that, by force of the nineteenth section of the city 
charter, the care and superintendence of the pubhc schools were 



CITY GOVERNMENT, 213 

vested in the School Committee ; that the power thus granted 
ought to have a reasonable construction, implying incidental 
powers, to make such superintendence effectual, — such as ap- 
pointment and removal of masters, fixing their salaries, selection 
of books, and regulating the studies of the schools ; that the 
exclusive right to make appropriations of public moneys, pos- 
sessed by the City Council, was the proper and only check held 
by that body over the proceedings of the School Committee, and 
was applicable only to extreme cases, and not involving the 
power of making their proceedings nugatory; they not being 
the agents of the City Council, but a distinct and independent 
body, deriving their powers, delegated to them by the citizens, 
under the provisions of the city charter. 

These proceedings were the chief measures of a general cha- 
racter adopted on this subject by the city government. During 
these two years, no material alteration took place in the condi- 
tion or system of the schools. Some complaints were, indeed, 
at that time made, by parents against masters, for undue seve- 
rity to their children ; and by masters against parents, for indulg- 
ing their children in want of punctuality, or for keeping them 
from school in their private service. There were other practices, 
and some disposition thought to be evidenced to keep men, who 
were deemed unqualified, in office. And, in June, 1823, on the 
first opening to the public of the Hancock School, the Mayor, 
at the request of the School Committee, delivered, and subse- 
quently, also, at their request, published an address, from which 
extracts, relative to topics of permanent interest and frequent 
recurrence, and deeply affecting the success of the schools, are 
here inserted, as follows : — 

There are two mistakes into which parents are chiefly apt to fall in this con- 
nection. First, — they are too ready to imagine, that school education and 
discipline can supply the want of discijjline and instruction at home ; and they 
often throw blame upon the masters which, in justice, belongs to themselves. 
If, therefore, the child of any parent returns from school shamed or corrected ; 
if he make little or no unprovement ; or if the tendency of his temper be way- 
ward or vicious ; before blaming the master, or finding fault with the discipline 
of the school, let such discontented parent set himself seriously to inquire into the 
manner in Avhich he himself has, in past life, performeil, or how he is, at the pre- 
sent time, performing his duties to his child ; what principles he has inculcated ; 
what habits he has permitted ; what example he has set. School education can 
do but little without domestic discipline and example. The father, and mother, 



214 MUNICIPAL HISTOKY. 

form and influenoo, moro tlian any masters, the characters of children. 
Let no parent, then, listen hastily to complaints, unless he is himself conscious 
of being guiltless of having given any countenance or encouragement to that 
conduct which he condemns, and which masters, in their fidelity, nmst punish. 

A second mistake of parents, affecting these institutions, is, — that they are 
apt to imagine, because schools are provided by the public, it is the right of indi- 
viduals, and of themselves as well fts of others, to use or neglect them at plea- 
sure, according as any whim, caprice, temporary interest, or convenience may 
dictate. 

The consequence is, that they send children to school only occasionally, ■when 
they please, or at what time they please, without any regard to the order and 
regulations of the school, or the interest of their child. 

Now, the usefulness of all scliools, in a great degree, depemls upon strict 
habits of punctuality and order; and on regidarity in the master's performance 
of his established routine of duties. Now, no master can thus perform his duties, 
if children are permitted by parents to loiter on their way, or delay, or neglect 
going to school ; or if they are kept after school hours engaged in work, or on 
errands, and thus, by coming late, break in upon the regularity of the school. 

The rights of pai'ents are, in this resj^ect, precisely like and parallel with all 
the other rights of civil life. So use your own rights, as not to injure the 
rights of others ; above all, so use them as not to injure the general interest. It 
is the duty of masters to exact punctuality of attendance from their scholars ; 
and for this purpose, as a chief means, to be most minute and critical in their 
own punctuality. And as to those parents, Avho will not submit to a principle 
so essential to the success of this great interest of the republic, they must not 
complain, should those who have the care of that interest exclude altogether 
from the enjoyment of these privileges those delinquents who, by such injurious 
neglect, show they are unworthy to possess them. 

The relation of master and usher is still more important and critical to these 
institutions. Their duties are, all of them, of a nature so simple and obvious, 
that to allude to them would imply a possibihty of ignorance, or deficiency, 
which ought not to be admitted, even by way of supposition. 

There are duties, however, resulting from their relation to one another and to 
this Board, on which it may be useful to touch ; and the rather, because diffi- 
culties have heretofore arisen from misapprehensions on those subjects. 

The relation, then, of the master and usher, of the same school, ought to be 
understood to be, in the nature of things, a relation of subordination, and not of 
equality. It is one of the chief duties of him Avho is second, to supjjort and 
strengthen the hands of him who is first ; and, for this purpose, to study on all 
occasions to elevate his character, to extend his influence, to tiicilitate his labors, 
and promote his respectability, both in school and in the world. There is no 
surer mark of imworthiness for a higher station, than an unwillingness to submit 
to the requisitions, or to yield the deference, which is due from a lower. All 
espionage, all disputes of authority, all petty cavils, of the inferior in relation to 
the superior, are to be avoided ; being assured that such conduct can receive no 
countenance from this Board ; with the certainty that, though Its effect may be 
to injure him whom it afiects, that it cannot fail to disgrace him who condescends 
to the practice. 



CITY GOYERN^IENT. 215 

Tliis principle, however, must not be understood to extend to the conccahncnt 
of any notorious vice or fault in the masters, or to any open or habitual violation 
in him of the rules established for the government of the school by the School 
Committee. Failure openly to represent this to the proper authority, is a failure 
in duty, for which the usher is, and will be, considered responsible. 

On tlie other hand, the duty of the master towards the usher is not less plain 
and imperious. In the order of things, he is, indeed, superior ; but then, he 
should always remember that it is only superiority of station, which does not 
necessarily imply individual superiority. Tlie relation in which masters and 
ushers stand to each other is that of gentlemen ; of men under joint obligations 
to promote the interests of the school, and the improvement of the scholars ; and 
the great study of both should be, so to cooperate in their labors, as mutuallj- to 
aid each other in effecting this joint object. 

From both instructors, the pubhc have a right to expect, and it will be the 
endeavor of the present School Committee to enforce, punctuahty, exclusive 
devotion to the interests of the school, and strict obedience to the rules established 
for its government. 

The habit of punctuality, instructors should consider as a primary and essen- 
tial duty. They should be, by system, as true to the fixed time of opening and 
closing their school as the shadow of the style is true to the sun dial. 

So, also, with respect to an exclusive devotedness to the interests of the 
school. It may be questioned whether either, — and certainly, whether the 
principal instructor, — ought to be permitted to engage in any other business or 
employment, the object of which is pecuniary emolument. But it cannot be 
questioned, that neither of them ought to be permitted to cai'ry any engagement 
or other pursuit into school hours. The whole of the prescribed time belongs 
to the public. During its continuance, instructors have no right to do any thing 
else, or think of any thing else. Whatever part of the time is not occupied in 
instruction, is sufhciently well employed in superintendence of order and de- 
corum. 

Lastly, gentlemen of the School Committee, in this reference to the duties 
of others, which I have thus made, at your suggestion, you will permit me, also, 
to notice some which belong to ourselves. In the organization of this Commitr 
tee, distinguished men, drawn for the most part from the learned professions, are 
added to the higher branches of the city authorities. It must generally be ex- 
pected, that the Mayor and Aldermen will be men of business, rather than of 
science, and better acquainted with the rules and measures of active life, than with 
those of schools and seminaries of learning. This part of the Committee have, 
therefore, a natural right to look to the superadded members for advice, direc- 
tion, and for a vigilant and active superintendence, in this particular department. 
And while the Mayor aucriJdermen will extend to this great concern all the 
protection which the extensive nature x)f their other duties will permit, it is to 
the members of the Committtee, who do not belong to this Board, that the city 
authorities have ? jight to look for a severe and scrutinizing investigation of the 
state of the scL As, and of the manner in which masters and ushei's, as well as 
parents and children, fulfil their respective obligations. 

The great difheulty with which we have to contend is that disposition which 
is innate in all, to avoid painful responsibilities, when the exercise of authority 



216 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

affects particularly and directly the hopes and prospects of an individual, and 
only generally and remotely the interests of the community. But, gentlemen, 
in assuming this ofKce, we have undertaken a duty for which Ave are responsible, 
not only to our country, but to Heaven. If men obviously weak, or inefficient, 
or inadequate, are maintained in office, merely through reluctance to exercise 
power which our station devolves upon us, and which, by accepting the trust, 
we have solemnly engaged to fulfil, I need not explain to wise, honorable, and 
thoughtful men the nature and consequences of such failure, to fulfil an important 
and voluntarily incurred obligation. This city has a right to have efficient and 
capable men in all its departments ; especially in its schools. The worst of all 
charities is that which supports imbecility in official station, merely from reluct- 
ance at depriving it of official emoluments. And, however this may be pardon- 
able in relation to offices affecting only personal or local interests, it is, in rela- 
tion to such as are of the nature of public instructors, little less than criminal. 

I repeat it, this city has a right to have, in every department of this great 
concern, none but adequate men. The liberality for which the inhabitants of 
Boston have been distinguished towards public instructors, in all times, has 
afforded this Committee the means and the power of selecting the best, and of 
excluding the bad or the indifferent from those offices. If, through our weak- 
ness, carelessness, or fear, the rising generation in any school district be dealt 
by unfairly, and do not reap its equal share of the advantages which this city, 
by the liberality of its public provisions, endeavors to secure to all its citizens, 
the fault and the shame will lie upon those who, being intrusted with the power, 
and having accepted of it, shrink from their duty, under the influence of a false 
and mischievous sympathy. 

Early in the year 1825, the School Committee accepted a 
report of one of their sub-committees, recommending an esta- 
blishment of a high school for girls, and an application to the 
City Council for an appropriation for that object. The plan pro- 
posed was, that girls who were qualified should be admitted 
when eleven, and not more than fifteen years of age ; and that 
the course of studies should occupy three years, and embrace all 
the branches of education usually taught in colleges, except Greek 
and Latin. There being at that time a very general desire in 
the School Committee to test the usefulness of monitorial or 
mutual instruction, it was proposed that the school should be 
conducted upon that system ; and, in respect of expense, the 
report supposed that one large room would be sufficient, at least 
for the first year. 

The adoption of the report was pressed with great earnestness 
by several members of the School Committee, and the success 
of the High School for Boys, was urged as conclusive in favor of 
a simfiar school for girls. The High School for Boys had been 



CITY GOVERNIMENT. 217 

in operation five years, and no additional school for them was 
required or anticipated. The applieants for admission to it had 
never exeeeded nijsety ; the greatest number ever admitted to it 
in one year was eighty-four; and, at that time, the number -was 
only ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX. The numbcr, also, in the 
High School for Boys regularly diminished every successive year, 
as parents found places for their sons, as apprentices and in count- 
ing-houses ; so that the greatest number of those who continued 
through their whole course was se^' nteen; and they belonged 
to a class consisting originally of seventy members. Those 
members of the Committee, however, who considered the differ- 
ence between the occupation and preparation for active life, of 
girls and boys, between the ages of eleven and fifteen years, 
doubted if the result of the High School for Boys was a criterion 
to be relied upon for a high school for girls. It was certain that 
the inevitable effect of this school would be to attract from the 
common schools all the most ambitious and intellectual scholars, 
and of consequence deprive those schools of the girls best quali- 
fied by attainment and example to excite the spirit of emulation, 
to raise their standard, and to take, in them, the place of moni- 
tors. Apprehensions of this kind added force to the doubts con- 
cerning the expediency of establishing it. 

There existed, at this time, a general opinion in favor of ex- 
tending and enlarging the advantages enjoyed by females in the 
public schools. The project was therefore in unison with this 
prevailing desire, and popular with parents whose daughters 
were of an age to take advantage of it, and the appropriation 
of two thousand dollars, recommended by the School Commit- 
tee, was granted by the City Council with gi-eat unanimity. 
The anticipations of difficulty were, however, so sti'ong and 
plausible, that it was adopted expressly "as an experiment;" 
"if favorable, to be continued, if adverse, to be chopped of course." 
With this understanding, the project being sanctioned by the 
City Council, the twenty-second of February, 1826, was ap- 
pointed by the School Committee for the examination of candi- 
dates for admission into the High School for Girls ; the largest 
and most commodious room owned by the city having been 
assigned for it, and fitted up, at a considerable expense, to the 
satisfaction of the Committee. 

But before this examination occurred, it became apparent that 
19 



218 MUNICIPAL IIISTOllY. 

the result of a High School for Girls would be very different 
from that of the High School for Boys ; and that, if continued 
upon the scale of time and studies the original project embraced, 
the expense would be insupportable, and the effect upon the 
Grammar or Common Schools positively injurious. 

Instead of ninetij candidates, — the highest number that had 
ever offered in one year for the school for boys, — it was ascer- 
tained that nearly Ihrec hioidred would be presented for the High 
School for Girls. The spacious room provided for the school 
would not accommodate more than one hundred and twenty; 
and it was evident that, either two hig-h schools for girls must 
be established the first year^ or that more than one half of the 
candidates must be rejected, to the great disappointment of 
their parents and instructors. 

In this dilemma, a special meeting of the School Committee 
was called, on the twenty-first of February, the day previous to 
that appointed for the examination ; and, after much deliberation 
on the course to be pursued, they resolved to keep the number 
to be admitted under their own control; and for this purpose 
passed a vote, that the Sub- Committee, appointed as examiners, 
should report to the School Committee " the names, ages, and 
standing of all the candidates they should find qualified for admis- 
sion, that THIS COMMITTEE MAY DETERMINE WHAT CLASSES OF 
THEM SHALL BE ADMITTED." 

Under the influence of this vote, the examination was accord- 
ingly conducted. Two hundred and eighty-six candidates pre- 
sented themselves for examination. And, on the twenty-eighth 
of February, the Sub- Committee of Examiners, from motives 
of prudence, did not report to the School Committee the names of 
those they found duly qualified, but only the ages of each candidate, 
li'ith a table of the murks, from one to twenty, put opposite each, 
under each head of examination, and the general result ; and, to 
bring the admission of applicants within the extent of the ac- 
commodations which had been provided, they recommended that 
the School Committee ^^ should strike from the list of applicants all 
between eleven and tivelve years of age; and that, of the remainder, 
all ivho had received the numbers of thirteen and a half and up- 
ivards, should be admitted as members of the schooW 

The School Committee adopted the course suggested by the 
Sub- Committee of Examiners, and regulated their admission 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 219 

of candidates by the principles tliey recommended. The conse- 
quence was that, of the tuw hundred and eightij-six candidales, 
about one hundred and thirtij vere admitted, and one hundred and 
Jrffi/ rejected. Parents, friends, and instructors of these unsuc- 
cessful candidates regarded these proceedings as unjust, and the 
rule of selection as arbitrary. Complaints of favoritism were 
not uncommon, — the natural consequence of extreme disap- 
pointment. The course, however, pursued by the School Com- 
mittee was unquestionably the best the circumstances in which 
they found themselves placed permitted. This feeling of dis- 
content was not, however, generally allayed, although, from par- 
ticular considerations, the vote for striking out all between eleven 
and twelve years of age from the list of applicants was subse- 
quently rescinded, and seven candidates between those years 
were admitted. 

Notwithstanding the number of candidates offered far exceeded 
all anticipation, the High School for Girls was put into opera- 
tion under very favorable auspices. The master was talented, 
earnest, and assiduous; and members of the Committee, some 
of whom had daughters enjoying its advantages, superintended 
its course with marked and critical interest. The girls who were 
admitted were the elite of the Grammar Schools, and were 
arai)ng the most ambitious and highly educated of them and of 
private schools, from which a majority of those admitted were 
derived. It was impossible that a school thus conducted, super- 
intended, and composed, should not be highly advantageous to 
the few individuals who enjoyed its benefits ; and its success 
was a subject of congratulation among their parents. 

In August, 1826, a report was made to the School Commit- 
tee, setting forth the necessity of a further provision for its sup- 
port, enlargement, and accommodation ; and stating, by way of 
information, the following facts: — " That the present nnniber of 
the school icas one hundred and tJiirty ; that few, if any, could be 
excluded the present year; that, according' to the best calculations 
that could be made, the number of the candidates for admission at 
the then next ensuing' examination, ivould be four hundred and 
twenty-seven, ivho, if they were all admitted, and those now in the 
school retained, it would be necessary that five hundred and f fly- 
seven members of it should be provided for. ''^ The Sub-Commit- 
tee, however, suggested that, probably, not more than two hun- 



220 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

drcd would be found qualified; a suggestion unsupported by any 
data. 

This report unavoidably brought under the consideration pro- 
bably of every member of the School Committee, and of the 
city government, the practicability of a system of schools, in- 
cluding such an extent of time and course of studies as the plan 
of this school originally embraced. It was obvious that the 
result of the High School for Boys was no criterion by which to 
estimate that for girls, who were not compelled to prepare for 
active life between the ages of eleven and sixteen, and to whom 
a high classical education was extremely attractive ; and, being 
confined to the best scholars in all the schools, private as well as 
public, by its select and necessarily exclusive character, obviated 
the objections of many parents to public schools. The efi'ect of 
this circumstance was apparent in this "experiment." Of the 
number admitted into it, sixty-tu'o were from private schools, 
and only fifty-nine from the public. And it was ascertained, 
that if the school should be maintained upon the extensive plan 
of time and studies embraced in the original project, that there 
would be a far greater influx into it from the private schools. 
Those, therefore, whose property enabled them to educate their 
children at private schools, would occupy the greatest proportion 
and receive the chief benefit from the High School for crirls. 
No circumstance could show more effectually that the school 
was chiefly for the advantage of the few, and not of the many ; 
and those, also, the prosperous few. Again, this first experiment 
showed, in another respect, the entire difference in result of the 
school for girls and of that for boys. In the latter school, as has 
been already stated,^ the number of scholars regularly diminished 
every year, so that the far gi-eater proportion of those who entered 
it quitted before the expiration of the three years ; whereas, 
of all those who entered this High School for Girls, not one^ 
during the eighteen months it was in operation, voluntarily quit- 
ted it ; and there was no reason for beheving that any one ad- 
mitted to the school would voluntarily quit it for the whole three 
years, except in case of marriage. It was ascertained that the 
whole number of girls, between eleven and fifteen years of age, 
then in the Grammar and High Schools was about seven hun- 

1 Sec page 217. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 221 

drcd; and that in the private schools the number was greater. 
Of consequence, there would be a great total, of at least, fouT' 
teen hundred girls every year; the number, also, increasing with 
the population, to whom the benefit of this collegiate course was 
annually to be proffered ; and, considering the uncommon and 
desirable privileges thus offered, it was probable that at least one 
third would qualify themselves for the benefit, and that not one 
of those, once admitted, would quit the school for three years. 
It was evident, therefore, that at least two High Schools for 
Girls must at once be established ; and that, if the whole num- 
ber of anticipated applicants should be admitted, that three such 
schools would be required, with a prospective certainty of the 
increase of this number every year. It was apparent to all who 
contemplated the subject disinterestedly, that the continuance of 
this school would involve an amount of expenses unprecedented 
and unnecessary ; since the same course of instruction could be 
introduced into the Grammar Schools, to the far gi-eater benefit 
of the greater number of females, and those, too, of a class for 
whom it was the chief duty and interest of the city to provide a 
high education. The opinion, therefore, became general, if not 
universal, that, if the school was continued, some change in its 
principles must be adopted. Two schemes only were suggested, 
by those who wished to continue the course three years: — 
1. That the High School should be confined to girls educated in 
the Grammar Schools. This could not be sustained for one mo- 
ment. For, in addition to the common right, which would be 
inhe>-ent in all parents, to send their children to schools sup- 
ported at the public expense, the tendency would be to bring 
back to the Grammar Schools a class of children, from the edu- 
cation of whom the city was now relieved, by the predilection 
or pecuniary ability of parents. 2. That the qualifications for 
admission should be raised, and the course of three years be con- 
tinued. This last was the favorite scheme of those most desi- 
rous of continuing the school for the term of three years, accord- 
ing to the original project. A single objection seemed, however, 
conclusive against this scheme. In proportion as the qualifica- 
tions for admission are raised, the school becomes exclusive. 
Although nominally open to all, it will be open only to the few^ 
and shut to the many. 

Actuated by these general views, a sub-committee was ap- 

19* 



222 MUNICIPAL inSTORY. 

pointed by the School Committee, to whom the report made in 
the August preceding! was referred, to consider the expediency 
of making further provision for the High Schools for Girls, on 
the same basis of extent, of time, and of studies as the original 
project embraced. This Committee, after long deliberation, and 
inquiring of the several masters of the Grammar Schools, as to 
the effect upon the character and prospects in those schools pro- 
duced by the High School for Girls, found there was a diver- 
sity of opinion. Some of the masters regarded the eflects as 
beneficial ; others thought them prejudicial. Removing the best 
and most ex(>mplary scholars damped the ardor of the girls 
who remained, and took away the materials from which moni- 
tors were selected, and reduced the standard of the Common 
Schools from the highest to a secondary gi-ade. The Commit- 
tee, therefore, on the seventeenth of November ensuing, made 
a report, stating those facts, and that new principles ought to 
be adopted in relation to the qualification for admission and 
time of remaining in the High School for Girls; and unani- 
mously recommended the fohowing modifications of the system 
of that school. These were immediately adopted by the School 
Committee, namely, — that the age of admission should he four- 
teen, instead of eleven; that continuance in the school should 
be only for one year, instead of three ; and that the requisitions 
for admission should be raised, so as to include all branches 
taught in the public Grammar and Writing Schools ; and that 
no female should be admitted after the age of sixteen. 

These modifications, in which the School Committee and 
City Council generally concurred, so gi'eatly diminished the ad- 
vantages the original plan of the school proposed, that much of 
the interest which its creation excited was also diminished. It 
became apparent, that a school thus limited, of which the advan- 
tages could be enjoyed only for one year, would not be, as the 
original scheme professed, for the benefit of the many; but, in 
fact, for the exclusive advantage of the few, and, for the most 
part, of those whose private resources were fully adequate for 
the education of their own daughters. The higher the qualifica- 
tions required, the more exclusive the school. The daughters of 
•educated men, of lawyers, clergymen, and physicians, who had 

» Sec page 219. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 223 

leisure themselves, or those who had fortunes sufTicient to give 
their daughters the high preparatory education, would, unavoid- 
ably, be preferred on examination. To them, the advantages of ^ 
the school would principally result, and not to the daughters of 
the mass of the citizens. 

The school, however, was permitted to continue, subject to 
this modification, until November, 1827, when a committee was 
raised to consider the expediency of continuing it; which, on the 
eleventh of December following, reported that, in thek opinion, 
" it was expedient to continue it." This report was the occasion 
of much debate; and several modifications were proposed, on 
which the Committee was equally divided, when a motion was 
made for the postponement of the question to the next School 
Committee, which, in the course of that month, was to be elected. 
On this question, the votes being equal, — "six and six," — the 
Mayor, after declaring, that his opinion was so decidedly adverse 
to the continuance of the school, that he could not vote in its 
favor ; yet, regarding the question of great importance, and that 
the continuance of it was a subject of much public and popular 
animadversion, and that the School Committee then about to be 
elected, coming immediately from the citizens, would be better 
qualified, from their acquaintance with the general feeling and 
sentiments of the people, to decide the question most satisfac- 
torily, postponed the subject to the next city year by his casting 
vote. 

This decision having been made the subject of much popular 
animadversion, the Mayor did not deem his official duty fulfilled 
without presenting his views distinctly to his fellow-citizens; 
and, accordingly, in his inaugural address to the city govern- 
ment, in January, 1828,i expressed, in a direct and unequivocal 
manner, his opinion, that the standard of public education ought 
to be raised to the greatest practicable height in our Common 
Schools ; that the effect of the High School for Girls was, in his 
judgment, far different from that which popular o))inion enter- 
tained ; that, instead of being for the benefit of the cliildren of 
the whole community, it was, in fact, comparatively for the 
benefit of those of a very few, and that, too, a class who were 
best qualified, by intelligence, education, and wealth, to provide 
for the high instruction of their own children. 
1 Sec Appendix, F. 



224 MUOTCIPAL HISTORY. 

Leading members of the City Council coincided in these 
general views ; and at a meeting, early in January, 1828, at the 
^suggestion of the Mayor, the succeeding School Committee took 
into consideration the subject referred to them by the preceding 
Board; and when under discussion, say the records, "James 
Savage remarked that, though he had, as a member of the Com- 
mon Council, voted an appropriation to the High School for 
Girls, it was mainly with a view to make a public experiment 
of the system of mutual instruction ; that he was opposed to 
the High School for Girls, and to the whole system of instruc- 
tion, as regards females ; he therefore moved, that a sub-commit- 
tee be raised to consider, — 

" Whether the High School for Girls shall be continued, and 
the basis on which it shall be established ; — 

" Whether the girls may not well be allowed to remain at the 
Grammar Schools throughout the year ; — 

"And, whether the time of their continuance at these schools 
may not be advantageously extended." 

This motion being adopted, the following Sub-Committee 
was appointed for its consideration, namely, — the Mayor, John 
Pickering, Samuel T. Armstrong, William B. Fowle, Samuel 
Barrett, Zabdiel B. Adams, and Amos Farnsworth. 

This Committee made, on the twelfth of February, an elabo- 
rate report unanimously, in which was set forth, in detail, all 
the chief views and arguments connected with the subject; and 
declared then- opinion, that the High School for Girls " ought 
not to be reestablished upon the basis of embracing the extent 
of time and the multiplied objects of education which the ori- 
ginal plan of that school contemplated;" and that it ought not 
to be continued " on the restricted basis, as to time and objects, 
to which it was reduced by the vote of the seventeenth of No- 
vember, 1826 ;"i but that "it was far preferable to arrange all 
our Grammar and Writing Schools so that the standard of edu- 
cation in them may be elevated and enlarged, thereby making 
them all, as it 1-espects females, in fact, high schools, in which 
each child may advance, according to its attainments, to the 
same branches recently taught in the High School for Girls. 
The Sub-Committee then entered upon a wide survey of the 
whole school system ; and closed their report by recommending 

^ See page 222. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 225 

a series of resolutions, which, after undergoing some modifica- 
tions, were adopted by the School Committee unanimously, in 
which the opinion of the School Committee was declared, that 
it was for the interest of the city, that the mutual or monitorial 
system of instruction should be introduced into the Boylston and 
Bowdoin Schools ; that an appropriation be requested of the 
City Council, for preparing the school houses for this purpose ; 
and the Sub-Committee, who made the report, were reappointed 
to carry the resolutions adopted into effect. On the third of 
June ensuing, " Mr. Savage moved that the girls be permitted to 
remain in the English Grammar Schools throughout the year." 
This motion being adopted, and measures taken for carrying 
into effect the views thus sanctioned, the project of the High 
School for Girls was abandoned, and the scale of instruction in 
the Common Schools in the city was gradually elevated and 
enlarged. 

This result, and the distinctness with which the Mayor had 
made known his opinion, concerning the inexpediency of esta- 
blishing such a High School for Girls at the expense of the city, 
in opposition to the views and interests of a body of citizens of 
great activity, and of no inconsiderable influence, gave origin to 
party assaults upon the motives and conduct of that officer, 
which he noticed in his final address to the Board of Aldermen, 
on taking leave of the office, in January, 1829.^ The soundness 
of these views, and their coincidence with the permanent inte- 
rests of the city, seem to be sanctioned by the fact, that twenty- 
thi'ee years (1851) have elapsed, and no effectual attempt, during 
that period, has been made for its revival, in the School Com- 
mittee, or in either branch of the City Council. 

A question growing out of the relation of the Mayor of the city 
to the School Committee, of which, by the city charter, he was 
officially a component part, ought not, perhaps, to be omitted in 
this history, although of no other general importance than as 
preserving a remembrance of the different construction made of 
that charter, and of its having temporarily been the occasion of 
party animadversions. When, under the town government, the 
School Committee was established, there was no individual 
elected by the vote of all the inhabitants as chief officer or head 
of the town. The Selectmen, as the Executive Board, was 

1 See page 2G9, 



226 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

accustomed to elect annually a chairman ; but his authority and 
official character were derived solely from their election. The 
School Committee, therefore, considering, justly, that the power 
of electing a chairman of the Selectmen did not include the 
power of electing a chairman of the School Committee, not- 
withstanding the Selectmen were component parts of that 
Board, provided, in their first organization, " that, at the first 
meeting in each year, the Board should organize itself by 
choosing a chairman." And this was the uniform practice, until 
the adoption of the city charter. It was manifest that the rela- 
tion of things was materially changed by this charter. Like the 
Selectmen, the Mayor and Aldermen were made a component 
part of the School Committee ; but the Mayor was not chosen 
by the Board of Aldermen, but elected head of the city by the 
body of its citizens; and, by the force of that relation, it was 
the opinion of many, and, at the commencement of the new 
government, apparently of all, that, ex officio, he had the right, 
and that it was his duty to claim the station of chairman of all 
the boards of which, ex officio, he was a component part. This 
opinion was so strong and so general, that it does not apjjear 
that, during the first seven years after the organization of the 
city government, that any question was raised, or any doubt 
expressed on the subject. John Phillips, the first Mayor, with 
the Aldermen met, on the sixth of May, 1822, the other mem- 
bers of the School Committee, and took the chair, as Mayor of 
the city, and the School Committee proceeded immediately to 
organize themselves by the choice of a secretary. Neither the 
record nor any document indicates that the proposition to chooF 
him or any one chairman was either made or thought of by ak_, 
member of the School Committee. The same was the case 
with his successor, during the nearly six years to which his ad- 
ministration extended. The first intimation of any discontent 
existing in the Committee, for their omission to elect a chair- 
man, occurred on the twelfth of February, 1828, more than a 
month after the School Committee had been that year organ- 
ized in the usual course. • 

On that day, the record states, that "it was suggested by Mr. 
Bowdoin," (the Secretary of the Committee,) " that, in examin- 
ing the rules of the Board now in force, with a view to his duties 
as secretary, he had found a provision requiring, as a part of the 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 227 

organization of the Board, tlie annual choice of a chairman, at 
its first meeting in January; that the organization, by such 
choice, was not completed at the late meeting ; and, advert- 
ing to the words of the preamble to the rules, that the School 
Committee is a constituent branch of the city government., by the 
charter, added that, as it was a part of the duty required of 
those elected by the several branches, he doubted whether they 
could dispense with the responsibility of that part of the organ- 
ization. 

"After some debate on the subject, in which it was said by 
the INIayor, who disclaimed all personal motives, that ' he con- 
sidered the person holding the office of Mayor as being chair- 
man by force of the city charter,' it was voted that a committee 
of five be appointed to take into consideration a revision of the 
rules ; and the Mayor, accordingly, appointed Messrs. James 
Bowdoin, John Pickering, Samuel T. Armstrong, Joseph Head, 
the Rev. C. P. Grosvenor, for the purpose." 

The com-se and conduct of the Mayor, on this subject, having 
been animadverted upon in pamphlet and newspaper, as " as- 
suming " and " selfish," in order that no obscurity might rest on 
his opinions and motives, he immediately addressed a letter to 
the Board, in the following terms : — 

TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BOSTON. 

Gextlemex, — At your last meeting, Mr. Bowdoin called the attention of 
tlie Coiumittec to its organization, by the choice of a chairman, and stating " the 
doubts he entertained if, ivJien meeting as a Board, they could dispense lolth tlie 
responslhllltij of that part of tlie organization." 

As this suggestion and these doubts have reference to the relations of the 
office which the subscriber has now the honor to hold, and are in repugnance to 
the uniform practice and course of jjroceedings ever since the organization of 
the city government, the subscriber deems it his duty to that office, and to all 
who may be his successors in it, to state openly his views, resulting, as they do, 
from the terms of the city charter, now, for the first time, authoritatively ques- 
tioned, to the end, that no obscurity may rest upon their nature and foundation. 

The School Committee is constituted by the last clause in the nineteenth 
section of the city charter, which is in these words : — "And the said citizens 
shall, at the same time, and in like manner, elect one person in each ward to be 
a member of the School Committee for the said city ; and the persons so chosen 
shall JOINTLY, WITH THE Mayor AND Aldermen, Constitute the School 
Committee for the said city, and have the care and superintendence of the public 
schools." 

From the terms of this section it is apparent, — 



228 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

1. That tlie Mayor and Aldennen arc part of the School Committee, ex 
officio. 

2. That the term, " Mayor and Aldermen," Is not a designation of the indivi- 
duals, but of their office and relation. 

Had that term been intended to designate the individuals, to whom the persons 
so elected were to be joined, the expression would have been different, namely, — 
"and the persons so chosen shall, jointhj, with the persons icho shall be chosen 
Mai/or and Aldermen," &c. As the expression of the charter now is, the per- 
sons so chosen are joined to the office and relation, and not to the persons as 
such. In corroboration of which reasoning, it is apprehended that it will not be 
questioned, that an Alderman resigning his seat at that Board, or the Mayor 
resio-nino- his office, would, by that act, vacate his seat in the School Committee. 

From the above reasoning, it follows, necessarily, that the Mayor and Alder- 
men compose a part of the School Committee, wlien it meets, ex officiis ; that is, 
as " Mayor and Aldermen," and in no other capacity, right, or relation. 

By the tenth section of the city charter, it is declared, " that the Mayor and 
Aldermen, thus chosen and qualified, shall compose one board, and 

SHALL SIT AND ACT TOGETHER AS ONE BODY, AT ALL MEETINGS OF 
WHICH THE MAYOR, IF PRESENT, SHALL PRESIDE. 

From both these sections the conclusion is, in the opinion of the subscriber, 
unavoidable, that the Mayor and Aldermen cannot meet, ex officiis, hut as one 
board ; at all meetings of which the Mayor, if present, must preside. 

If to the Mayor and Aldermen, for a particular purpose, as in this case of 
schools, other citizens are joined, they are, by force of the terms of the charter, 
so joined, as all citizens are joined, when they are connected with the Chief 
Executive Board of the Corporation ; that is, modified ly the orfjanization of 
that Supreme Executive Board, as established in the charter. 

The subscriber requests, that this claim of official right may be put on file and 
on record, to the end that the nature and foundation of it may be understood, 
and that those who may hold this office hereafter, may have none of their just 
official claims compromitted, by any neglect or want of vigilance on his part. 
Very respectfully, Gentlemen, 

I am your obedient servant, 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Boston, 21 February, 1828. 

No report appears by the records to have been made by the 
Committee thus appointed ; bnt the records of the next succeed- 
ing year state, "that the Board proceeded to elect a chairman by 
ballot, and the Mayor was unanimously chosen ; a practice which 
has continued to the present day ; notwithstanding, in the year 
1835, by act of the Legislature, the Board of Aldermen were 
excluded, and the Mayor of the city constituted a component 
part of the School Committee. The course thus adopted being 
probably deemed important to maintain the independence of 
that board of the city government. 



CHAPTER XVL 

CITY GOVEROTHENT. 1828. 

JosiAH QuiNCY, Mayor.^ 

General Relations of the City in respect of Debt — Health — Protection against 
Fire — Its Duty in respect of Education — Effect on its Prosperity by the 
Principle of Arbitrary Valuation witliout Relief — Principles of Proceeding 
relative to the Voting Lists — Indemnity of City Officers for Acts of Official 
Duty — Sale of Spirituous Liquors prohibited on the Common — Inexpe- 
diency of Selling the Flats to the Eastward of the New Market House, and the 
Result of the Measures taken on that Subject. 

The municipal prosperity of the city, and the decisive evi- 
dences of the content of the citizens with the conduct of their 
affairs, were noticed in the inaugural address of the Mayor,^ and 
the chief causes of these results were recapitulated. The appre- 
hensions of a city debt had been allayed by the rigid economy 
enforced, and by the fact, that none of the appropriations made 
at the beginning of the year had been exceeded. Success had 
attended the measures adopted for the reduction of the city 
debt, and at the close of the current financial year one hundred 
thousand dollars of it would be discharged. The general order 
of the city had been well maintained, and the number of com- 
plaints in every branch of the police diminished. The advan- 
tageous effect of the new arrangements in the Health Depart- 
ment were apparent. The general vaccination adopted under 
the authority of former city councils, and the vigilance of the 
Health Physician and police officers had been so effectual, that 
only one case of the smallpox, within the city, had been known 
or suspected, although it had spread with activity in towns in 
the immediate vicinity. Tables, founded on the bills of mortal- 
ity, showed that, from 1824 to 1827 inclusive, the annual ave- 

1 The whole number of votes cast, were 2629, of which Josiah Quincy had 
2189. The Aldermen elected were, — John T. Loring, Robert Fennelly, James 
Savage, Thomas Kendall, James Hall, John Pickering, Phiueas Upham, Samuel 
T. Armstrong. 

2 See Appendix G. 

20 



230 MUXICIPAL fflSTOKY. 

rage proportion of deaths to population had not only been less 
than that in any antecedent year, but it was believed to be less 
than that of any other city of equal population on record. 
These facts and calculations were stated, to show the wisdom 
of persevering in that systematic cleansing of the city from 
noxious animal and vegetable substances, which was com- 
menced in 1823, and had been since regularly pursued. The 
occasion was taken to press upon the minds of the citizens the 
duty of holding the executive officers of the city directly respon- 
sible for the right conduct of this branch of police, more than for 
any other, and the certainty that it can never, for any gi-eat 
length of time, be executed well, except by agents, whose labors 
it can command at all times and apply to all exigencies, and to 
the ever-varying requisitions of a city. 

The establishment of a fne department had created a sense 
of security, and reduced the rates of insurance against fire on 
the real property within the city twcntij per cent. This reduction, 
the Presidents of several insurance offices had authorized it to be 
stated, was solely the elTect of the efficiency of that department. 

The duty and interest of society, with regard to public educa- 
tion, was stated to be best fulfilled by establishing such public 
schools as would elevate as highly as possible the intellectual 
and moral condition of the mass of the community. To this 
end, every necessary branch of elementary instruction should be 
put within the reach of every citizen. If other and higher 
branches of instruction are to be added to these, it should be to 
our common schools, and enjoyed on the same equal principles 
of common right, and as common property. Every school, the 
admission to which is based upon the principle of requuing 
higher attainments, at a specified age, than the mass of children 
in the ordinary course of school instruction, at that age, can 
attain, is, in truth, a school for the benefit of the few, and not 
of the many. In form, it may be general ; but in fact, it wiU be 
exclusive. The Mayor closed this address, by presenting views 
concerning the effect upon the prosperity of the city, of " assess- 
ing taxes on the principle of an arbitrary valuation without 
relief." 

To these views, the attention of the city government was early 
called, by a petition of Jesse Putnam and a number of other 
citizens of wealth and respectability, stating that the inequality 



CITY GOYEKN^IENT. 231 

produced by the present system of taxation, was apparently unwise 
and unjust and disadvantageous to the prosperity of Boston, in 
comparison with the effects of the system pursued in other cities. 

The Mayor, having been previously informed of an intention ' 
to bring this subject under the consideration of the City Coun- 
cil, had, in the December preceding, addressed letters to the 
Mayors of New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, where modes 
of assessment were practised more generally satisfactory than 
those adopted in Massachusetts ; from each of whom a reply was 
received. 

The ]Mayor of New York ^ stated that " the mode of assessing 
taxes in that city was considered the best that can he adopted^ 
Lists from every individual of the amount of his estate are not 
required. To many persons engaged in mercantile business, a 
fair exhibit is impossible, and might be injurious. Two assess- 
ors are chosen by the people in each ward at the annual elec- 
tion in November. They are under oath to make a Aiir and 
equitable assessment of all estates, real and personal, in their 
respective wards, excepting such lands and buildings as are 
exempted by law from taxation. The Assessors commence busi- 
ness early in May, and complete it by the first of July. They 
ihen advertise to hear appeals. For ten days, any one may 
apply and view the assessment. If they consider the amount 
too high, they may make oath to the Assessors of the value of 
their property, which is conclusive. The books are afterwards 
jeturned to the ^layor, Recorder, and Aldermen, who examine 
whether the wards are assessed in a just proportion to each other, 
and they have power to lessen one ward and augment another, 
so as to produce an equitable apportionment. 

The Mayor of Baltimore ^ stated that " although their system 
of taxation was not free from objection, he was perfectly free to 
say that it gives general satisfaction." The Assessors, who are 
under oath to make a just valuation of all assessable property, 
^pply together to the residence of each taxable person, and obtain 
a statement of their property, and assess or value the same to 
the best of their judgment; where they have reason to sus- 
pect deception or imposition in rendering an account of their 
property, they have the power of requuing an oath. A bill 

^ William Paulding. 2 Jacob Small. 



232 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

of particulars is required to be made out by the Collector, and 
delivered to each pert^on assesi^ed, on or before the first of July 
in each year, which, if not paid within three months, the Col- 
lector is authorized to enforce. 

The Mayor of the city of Philadelphia ^ stated that " the 
assessments were made by fifteen assessors, annually elected, 
one for each ward. Triennially, two assessors are elected in 
each ward to make a new assessment ; but every year the 
assessment is examined and corrected by each assessor in his 
own ward ; and the new assessments are compared and equal- 
ized by a general meeting of the Assessors. These returns are 
made subsequently to county commissioners, who, under the 
law, are bound to fix certain days of appeal, before whom any 
citizen, who is aggrieved or injured in the valuation of his real 
estate, may appear, and have the valuation altered. No lists of 
valuation of property or estate are demanded of owners or occu- 
pants. The Assessors affix the value of the premises and own- 
er's name, as they pass from door to door, and if they en- in 
obtaining the proper owner's names, the Collector gets it right 
on a duplicate. There never has been, to my knowledge, with 
a view to taxation, any estimate of the personal property of an 
individual or corporation. I am not aware of any dissatisfac- 
tion as to the manner of assessment, or of inequality in the 
affixed valuation." 

The petition of Jesse Putnam, with the accompanying docu- 
ments, was referred to the Mayor, Aldermen Pickering, Up- 
ham, and Armstrong, and to Messrs. E. Williams, Simonds, 
Appleton, Gibbens, Dyer, Gray, and Ward, of the Common 
Council, who referred the subject to a sub-committee, of which 
John C. Gray was chakman, with instructions, in conformity 
with the petition of Jesse Putnam, to " investigate the system of 
apportioning the taxes as now pursued in the city, and to con- 
sider of a modification of them." This Sub- Committee reported 
in March following, that " by the laws establishing this system, 
every individual is compelled to exhibit an exact statement of 
his property, personal as well as real, or in default thereof, to be 
doomed by assessors, according to the best of their knowledge 
and judgment. Li a community so active and wealthy as ours, 

1 Joseph "Watson. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 933 

there must be obviously serious embarrassments in carrying such 
a system into complete execution. In such a community there 
must be great and manifest objections on the part of numerous 
individuals to the first branch of the alternative offered by our 
laws, namely, — a complete disclosure of their property. In the 
first place, such a disclosure is often impracticable. The capital 
of an individual may be employed, for instance, in foreign trade, 
and may be materially affected by events which are unknown to 
the possessor at the time of his making his statement. Secondly, 
there are very many who cannot expose the state of their affairs 
without embarrassment or ruin. These circumstances, and 
others of equal importance, which have frequently been stated to 
the public, have produced a general unwillingness among the 
inhabitants of this city, and it is believed of other towns in the 
Commonwealth, to exhibit accurate lists of their possessions. 
Nor, perhaps, is this fact to be greatly regretted. By demanding 
such lists, we invite each individual to become a iintness in a 
co.se in ivhich he has the most immediate and direct pecuniary con- 
cern. Can it be questioned, that if the practice of exhibiting 
lists should become general, that the minds of individuals must, 
in many cases, be biased by their interest ; that statements of 
very different degrees of exactness and fairness might be ren- 
dered by persons possessing an equal amount of property ; that 
a strong temptation would be offered, if not to falsehood and 
perjury, at least to dangerous prevarication ; and that the 
Assessors might, in the end, be far from arriving at the exact 
truth, which it was the object of this provision to secure ? This 
general omission of our fellow-citizens, to give accurate state- 
ments of their property, however little to be regretted in a moral, 
or even an economical point of view, renders it the duty of the 
Assessors to doom all property to the best of their knowledge ; 
and this is a task which is attended with much difficulty and 
embarrassment, so far as respects personal property. Their 
means of knowledge must be, in many cases, exceedingly limited, 
and their opinions founded merely on report or conjecture. 
Their power, therefore, no matter how wisely or conscientiously 
exercised, is, to a gi-eat degree, an arbitrary power ; and such it 
must always be under our actual system of taxation. Hence 
we find that a tax on personal property in general, is considered 
by the best writers on political economy, as one which can never 
20* 



234 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

be imposed without serious disadvantage, except in communities 
of very small size and very limited capital. These circumstan- 
ces have led many of our fellow-citizens to inquire, whether some 
radical change could not be made in our present system of taxa- 
tion." Having stated these views on this subject, the Sub-Com- 
mittee forbore to pursue further the questions arising at that 
time, as whatever change was effected must be made by the 
Legislature of the Commonwealth, and confined their attention 
to a change in the number and to varying the compensation of 
the Assessors, which they recommended in the form of an ordi- 
nance, which was, on the fourteenth of April, passed by the City 
Council ; who, in accepting this report of the Sub- Committee, 
in view of the extent and importance of the resulting questions, 
postponed them for future deliberation, and, finally, in December 
following, referred them, with all the documents, to the next 
City Council, in which they were not revived. 

The state of the voting lists and the repeated applications of 
citizens to have their names inserted in them on the day of elec- 
tion, and after they had been delivered to the Inspectors, having 
been frequent topics of discussion during the course of the second 
administration of the city government, and the subject being of 
annual occurrence and permanent interest, it has been deemed 
useful, in addition to the statements already made in this 
history, that the chief principles and measures, successively 
adopted in relation to it, should be recapitulated and brought 
into one view. 

In March, 1824, a question arose, concerning the mode of 
admitting the name of voters to be placed upon the voting lists, 
the inspectors, in some of the wards, having taken upon them- 
selves to place names on those lists after they had been dehvered 
to them by the Mayor and Aldermen. It was deemed import- 
ant to put an early stop to practices so irregular and contrary to 
the charter. And a committee was appointed, consisting of the 
Mayor, Aldermen Child and Hooper, and Messrs. E. Williams, 
Wilkinson, Wright, and Davis, to inquire into " the propriety 
and expediency of adopting some uniform mode of admitting 
the names of voters to be placed on the voting Hsts." This 
Committee reported that the duty of making out the lists of the 
citizens qualified to vote in each ward, was, by the twenty-fourth 
section of the city charter, expressly devolved upon the Mayor 



CITY GOVERNISIENT. 235 

and Aldermen; that the list they had prepared, it was thehr 
duty to deliver to the City Clerk, to be used by the Warden and 
Inspectors ; and the charter was express, that " no person shall 
be entitled to vote at such election, whose name is not borne on 
such list ; " and that it was the special duty of the inspectors " to 
take care that no person should vote ivhose name is not borne on 
such list ; " and a resolve was accordingly passed, declaring that 
the inspectors had no right to admit any person to vote who was 
not on the list delivered to the City Clerk by the IMayor and 
Aldermen, and also a resolve, that ten days previous to any elec- 
tion, three copies of the lists made out by the Mayor and Alder- 
men should be deposited in three public places in each ward, so 
as to give full opportunity for every citizen, if he saw fit, to 
ascertain if his name was borne thereon, and have the mistake 
rectified. 

In April of the same year (1824) a person who had not been 
taxed the preceding year, and whose name was, of consequence, 
not upon the voting lists, voluntarily procured himself to be 
assessed, and brought a certificate of the fact to the IMayor and 
Aldermen, demanding that his name should then be inserted in 
the voting lists. They refused to insert his name, and passed a 
vote, declaring that they had no authority so to do, under those 
cu'cumstances. 

In April, 1826, the errors which had occurred in the voting 
lists, as delivered to the Mayor and Aldermen by the Assessors, 
had been so numerous, that the Mayor made a special recom- 
mendation to the City Council for a more specific provision 
against such occurrences in future. The Committee raised on 
this recommendation, reported that, owing to the great press of 
business and the sickness of one of the Assessors, a greater num- 
ber of errors had occurred in the voting lists than was usual ; 
that this temporary cause of inaccuracy might, and would be 
prevented, by increasing the number of assessors ; but that there 
were causes of a permanent natm-e, for which the remedy lies 
wholly with the citizens themselves, and consists in their own 
vigilance. Mistakes in the voting lists, being for the most part 
detected in the heat, and under the excitement of an election, 
give rise to suspicions of intentional omissions utterly unfounded. 
The citizens should remember that, from the complexity and 
intrinsic difficulties, perfect accm'acy is unattainable. Citizens 



236 MUOTCIPAL HISTORY. 

who change theu* residence from one ward to another, and who 
have recently come of age, are peculiarly subjects of such errors. 
Even fixed inhabitants may sometimes be omitted, either in 
copying or printing the voting lists, including eight or ten thou- 
sand voters. It is true, such errors seldom occur ; but the safe 
principle for every citizen to adopt is, that there is no absolute 
certainty that his name is on the lists, except it be ascertained by 
previous personal inspection. The Assessors' lists, which they 
are obliged by law annually to make out and deUver to the 
Mayor and Aldermen, are, substantially, the evidence of the right 
of the citizen to vote at any election. Then- correctness depends 
upon their coincidence with the books of the Assessors. Of this 
coincidence, the Assessors are the legal certifying officers. The 
revision and correction of those lists by the Mayor and Aldermen 
must depend upon the evidence adduced by the individual citi- 
zens whose names have been omitted. Without such evidence, 
the Mayor and Aldermen have no authority to correct them. 
Between the lists and books of the Assessors, there is no reason 
to anticipate important variance ; nor yet between the A\Titten 
and printed lists of the Assessors. In both respects, comparison 
is the duty of the Assessors, who are responsible for theh accu- 
racy. 

The chief sources of eiTor are in the books of the Assessors, 
and are attributable to various circumstances incident to the 
subject, and not wholly to be prevented by any vigilance. Of 
these the following are the most common : — 

1. In the manner in which the inquiries, on which the books 
of the Assessors, are founded, are unavoidably made in families, 
where, when the head is absent, the information given by 
domestics is often incorrect, the Christian name mistaken, or 
surnames misspelt, particularly in the case of temporary resi- 
dents in boarding-houses, or boarders or domestics. 

2. Changes of residence after the Assessors have finished their 
perambulation. 

3. Persons moving into the city, or, who coming of age, after 
such perambulation is finished. Such persons, if their names are 
not on the lists, have none to blame but themselves. 

4. A very common source of error is the withholding at 
boarding-houses, through ignorance or wilfulness, the Christian 
names of the boarders ; so that only their surnames are inserted 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 237 

in the books of the Assessors ; and although, when the tax is 
collected, the Collectors ascertain the Christian names, it is often 
too late for entry on the voting lists. 

The remedy proposed for correcting these eiTors, and which 
received the sanction of both branches of the City Council 
were, — 1st. The increase of the number of the Assessors. 2d. 
A systematic preparation and printing of the voting lists, as 
early as the first of March, so that the intermediate time before 
election should be employed in their revision and coiTection. 
3d. A more general and impressive sense, on the part of the citi- 
zens, of the duty of inspecting each for himself the voting lists 
previous to elections, particularly previous to that in April, when 
the lists being new, inaccuracies are more likely to occur. 

In December, 1826, the duty of superintending the voting 
lists was devolved by the City Council on the Mayor, with the 
aid of the Assessors, subject to the revision of the Board of 
Aldermen ; to whom, on the nineteenth of March, 1827, he reported 
the revised lists, and recommended that public notice should be 
given to the following persons, concerning whom errors in the 
lists were most likely to occur ; — those doing business in other 
wards than those in which they live ; those taxed without then 
Christian names ; those taxed within two years, who had 
become inhabitants since the first of May ; those who have 
come of age, or changed their place of residence since the same 
period. Notice was at this time given, that all who had not 
paid taxes wathin two years woiild have their names stricken 
from the voting lists. 

In April, 1828, complaints were made by the Warden and 
Inspectors of one of the wards, of the imperfection in the voting 
lists, and suggesting the expediency of investing the Warden 
and Inspectors ^vith power to insert names in those lists. The 
City Council, desirous that the nature and causes of the obsta- 
cles to obtaining correct voting lists should be well understood, 
postponed any report until the new lists, taken under the know- 
ledge of the previously existing complaints, should be tested by 
some strongly controverted election. This occuiTcd on that 
of mayor on the eighth and fifteenth of December of this year ; 
and the Mayor, on the twenty-second of the sa.me month, as 
Chairman of a Committee of the City Council, made a report, 
which was accepted in the Board of Aldermen, and printed by 



238 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the Common Council, but ultimately referred in that branch to 
the next City Council. In this report, the Committee stated, 
that " at no previous election had the satisfaction with the voting 
lists been more general ; that few errors had occurred, although 
the names on the lists amounted to tivelve thousand. The Com- 
mittee then proceeded to state " minutely the errors for which 
the officers making out the voting lists were responsible : — 1st. 
Such as ne^-Iecdng' to place the name of an inhahitant on the tax 
books, so that it does not appear on the voting lists. These 
errors, when they occur, are often the effect of accident, the inha- 
bitant not being at home, or his house shut up, or A\Tong name 
given, when the Assessors called. These accidents most fre- 
quently occur to boarders, or men not heads of families, con- 
cerning whom wrong names are often given at the boarding- 
houses ; for these errors the Assessors are without blame. 2d. 
Ncg'lect to transfer members of firms from the ivard ivhere they do 
business to the icards where they reside. This, when it occurs, 
often results from misinformation. 3d. Erasing the name by 
accident from the tax-books, so that it is not. inserted in the 
voting lists. This is so rare as scarcely to deserve notice. 4th. 
Errors in printing the voting lists. These are more likely to 
happen in printing the voting lists than in printing any other 
work, from mistakes in chirography, as it respects names, and 
there being no connection of sense, whereby the intention of the 
writer can be ascertained. The above are generally all the errors 
for which the Assessors are responsible. 

Those errors, for which the Assessors are not, and caimot be 
responsible, are the most numerous. Such are, — 1. Ignorance 
of the voter himself of the ward in which he resides. 2. Remo- 
val after the first of May, without taking care to have his 
name inserted on the lists of the ward to which he has removed. 
3. Absences in I\Iay from the city, of consequence not taxed, and 
thus the name not entered on the lists. 4. Having one's name 
transferred to a wi'ong ward, or by a \^Tong name, by officious 
friends. 5. Not having paid a tax, neither for the preceding nor 
for the cuiTcnt year, the name of such person having no right to 
be borne on the voting list. 6. Impracticability to obtain the 
Christian name of the person taxed, and the name, in such case, 
being not usually inserted in the voting lists. 7. Aliens taxed, 
but not naturalized, and so not entitled to vote. 8. Aliens natu- 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 239 

ralized, and their naturalization not made known to the Assess- 
ors. 9. Persons coming of age subsequently to the first of May, 
or to the perambulation of the Assessors. 10. Persons living in 
boarding-houses, or young jDersons not heads of families, whose 
names are not given to the Assessors by the families in which 
they reside. 11. Names of tenants or taxable inmates, whose 
names are given wrongly by domestics. 

From experience, it appears that four out of five of the en'ors 
which occur, are of the nature of those last enumerated, for 
which the Assessors are not responsible, and for which there is 
no practicable remedy, except by personal inspection of the voting' 
lists previous to the day of election. 

In order to throw light on a subject of some complexity, and 
to guard voters against mistakes, they were reminded " that neiv 
voting lists are made out every year from the tax books of the 
Assessors ; that these tax books have reference to the state of resi- 
dence on the first of May ; and that a voter, not found in any 
ivard in May by the Assessors, ivill not be taxed, and will not be 
upon the voting list of that yearP 

An ignorance of this fact is one of the principal causes of 
discontent. Men shun taxes and seek the polls ; but he who 
has received no tax bill has no right to expect that his name is 
on the voting lists. Old inhabitants are apt to imagine that, 
because their names are on the list of the preceding year, they 
must be on the new lists ; but it should be remembered that the 
only foundation of the voting lists in any year is the tax books of 
that year. The unavoidable difference between the lists of any 
former and any present year, from changes of residence, death, 
coming of age, and the Hke general causes, probably amounts 
every year to a difference of more than one half of cdl the names 
on the voting lists. 

No facts can more impressively urge upon every voter the duty 
of ascertaining for himself, whether his name is inserted on the 
voting lists. As to the suggestion of the expediency of investing 
the Warden and Inspectors with power to insert names on the 
voting lists, the Committee stated that it was not consistent 
with the laws of the Commonwealth ; that if attempted, it 
would be calculated to introduce errors into the voting lists, con- 
fusion at the polls, and charges of favoritism and coiTuption 
against the Inspectors. These officers have now but one single 



240 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

and simple duty ; that is, to the admitting all to vote whose 

NAMES ARE BORNE ON THE LISTS AND TO THE EXCLUDING OF ALL 
OTHERS. 

Should the Warden and Inspectors be allowed the right to 
insert names on the voting lists, every inducement, and even 
necessity, of making the lists accurate, previously to election 
day, would be taken away. It had been urged, that inspectors 
might be authorized to insert names of those who produced 
their tax bills ; but nothing would prevent the same tax bill 
from being presented in more than one ward at the same elec- 
tion ; the right to vote being often in a ward different from that 
specified in the tax bill. The questions arising, relative to this 
right, are often very complex, depending on various circumstan- 
ces ; when made before the Mayor and Aldermen, with great 
clamor and sense of right, they are often ascertained to be of a 
dubious character, and sometimes wholly unfounded. If made 
in the heat of an election, and in the midst of impassioned elect- 
ors, it would give rise to much excitement and charges of favor- 
itism. The possession of such a power by the Wardens and 
Inspectors would also cause the selection of these officers to be 
made with reference to party spirit, rather than to general cha- 
racter. In some wards the Inspectors are changed every year ; 
and the mistakes made by them, amidst the occasional confusion 
of the election, notwithstanding the exceeding singleness and 
simplicity of their present duties, sufficiently indicate that no 
gi-eater power ought to be intrusted to them. 

Thus, names have been checked off by mistake ; men, uncon- 
sciously by the Assessors, have been admitted to vote by an 
assumed name ; and often voters have been turned from the 
polls, and denied the right to vote, whose names were actually 
borne on the voting lists, being overlooked by the Inspectors in 
the haste and hurry of a contested election. From this cause 
alone, there ivere, at one election, more cases of rejection, than 
from all the other causes taken together ; there having occurred 
more than thirty instances of rejection, from this cause alone, 
of persons whose names were borne on the lists. Notwithstand- 
ing the general good intentions and fidelity of the Warden and 
Inspectors, the above errors to which they are now exposed are 
sufficient to show that their duties should not be augmented. 

So long as no person's name can be placed on the voting 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 241 

list, except by the Mayor and Aldermen, no one can lose his 
vote, unless he has been so indillerent as to neglect the inspec- 
tion of the voting lists once in each year. It is sui'ely better, 
that the citizen who will not take so small a trouble for so great 
a privilege, should lose his vote, than that a system should be 
adopted, which, by establishing twelve distinct tribunals^ should 
introduce controversies and party spirit, leading to confusion and 
to all the difficulties above stated at the polls. The Committee 
concluded, by stating the course adopted, previous to the last 
election, had produced such an approximation to correctness, 
that, during it, not more than four errors in the lists had 
occurred which it was possible for the Assessors to have cor- 
rected. Considering the great interest and importance of the 
subject, the above abstract of this report, being the result of 
several years experience and careful observation of facts by the 
Mayor, has been deemed important enough to be here distinctly 
preserved ; and the more so, because early under the succeeding 
city administration, a similar attempt was made to enlarge the 
power of the Inspectors, and Mr. Otis, as Mayor and Chairman 
of a Committee on this subject, in a report made to the City 
Council, expressly referred to the report, of which the above is 
an abstract, as an " elaborate exposition of facts and principles 
on the subject." ^ 

On the fourteenth of April, 1828, Charles P. Curtis, the City 
Solicitor, stated to the Board of Aldermen that an application 
had been made to him to defend a watchman for an alleged 
assault and battery, who, justified under color of his office. The 
Solicitor requested that he might receive instructions in this and 
similar cases ; and that a general rule might be estabhshed also 
in regard to advancing fees and expenses of witnesses. The 
communication was referred to Aldermen James Savage and 
John Pickering, to consider and report, who accordingly reported 
that it was expedient to instruct the Solicitor to defend the 
watchmen at the expense of the city, and to make all necessary 
advances during the progress of the action. With respect to 
other similar cases, it was difficult to lay down any invariable 
rule for the government of the Solicitor, in respect of actions 
brought against any officer of the city. From the great number 

1 See p. 290. 
21 



242 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

of those officers, of various degi-ees of intelligence and discretion, 
of various dispositions and temperaments, and selected from dif- 
ferent classes of citizens, it is obvious that occasions for gi-ound- 
less suits will be as likely to occur among them as among indi- 
viduals of a similar character, who are not city officers ; and if a 
spirit of litigation should be encouraged, as it would be by 
indemnifying the officers in all cases, the consequence would be 
extTcmely injurious to the peace and welfare of the city. But, 
on the other hand, it is the duty of the city to protect faithful 
officers in the proper execution of their duty, and to indemnify 
them when they are compelled to defend themselves in the dis- 
charge of their official duties. The Committee, therefore, re- 
ported the following order for the government of the City Soli- 
citor, namely, — " That in all the actions and suits described in 
the ordinance passed on the eighteenth of June, 1827, against 
any officer of the city, such officer shaU, in the first instance, pro- 
secute and defend, at his own expense, and, if it shall be found, 
either by verdict or otherwise, in the opinion of the Solicitor, 
that such officer did so prosecute or defend for good cause, and 
that he ought to be indemnffied for his expenses in such suit, 
then the City Solicitor shall certify accordingly, and such officer 
shall be so indemnified ; otherwise, such expenses shall be borne 
by the officer himself 

This report was read and accepted accordingly. 
In May, 1828, a few weeks before the general election day of 
the State, which, at that period, occuiTcd annually on the last 
Wednesday of this month, a petition signed by Isaac Parker, 
Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, and about fourteen hun- 
dred citizens, was presented to the City Council, praying that 
the seUing of spirituous fiquors on the Common, on public hofi- 
days, should be prevented. An order accordingly was issued, 
du'ecting the Constables to prosecute any person, who, in the 
Common, or in the malls and streets in its vicinity, should 
seU any spirituous or mixed liquors, of which part was spirit- 
uous, or who should in any of those places play cards, dice, or 
with any implements of gaming, on the days of general election, 
artillery election, and the fourth of July. Notice of this order 
was published immediately in the city newspapers, and the Con- 
stables directed to make it known to all who should have per- 
mission to erect booth, tent, or table on those days. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 943 

The expediency of selling by auction or otherwise the right 
which the Fanenil Hall Market Committee had secured for the 
city to the eastward of that Hall, was, in the autumn of this 
year (1828) brought before the City Council. This right em- 
braced an extent of flats equal to three hundred and fifteen feet 
in length, and on the west line one hundred and ninety-eight feet, 
and on the east one hundred and sixty-eight feet, and included 
fifty-seven thousand six hundred and forty-five feet square of 
wharf besides the right of dockage on three sides of the said 
proposed wharf. The subject was referred to a Committee of 
the City Council, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Loring and 
Upham, and Messrs. Moody, E. Williams, Means, Pickman, and 
Pratt, of the Common Council, who, on the sixth of October, 
reported at large, stating the importance of this space to the city 
as a possession, its prospective, increasing value, and that its 
local relations were such, that there seemed to be no possible 
state of things in which it could be wise for the city to abandon 
the control of it, which it now possesses by its right of property. 
Lying at the head or junction of five of the most thronged and 
busy streets of the city, now called Commercial, Clinton, North 
and South ]\Iarket, and Chatham Streets, the efficient and per- 
manent control of that space was deemed peculiarly important 
to be retained in the city government, from its very location, 
with reference to the general business of that part of the city ; 
but when, in addition to this, the fact is considered that it con- 
tains the whole space lying between the New City Market and 
the Channel, and that this is the only space within which the 
market itself can be extended, or the accommodations of those 
doing business in it enlarged, should the increasing greatness of 
the city render it necessary, it seemed to the Committee, that 
on this account alone, the city could not, in any state of things, 
be justified in divesting itself of the fee it had acquired in this 
property. The idea of selling these wharf rights could not, 
therefore, be entertained. The expediency of leasing them to 
others, rather than to undertake filling them up on the account 
of the city, having been urged upon the Committee, they declared 
that, in their opinion, the relation of this property was such, 
that its value and importance, either as a property or a posses- 
sion, could not be well understood previously to its being filled 
up and actually occupied ; and the control of it, in their judg- 



244 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

ment, ought not, even temj)orarily, to be put out of the power of 
the city, until its value and importance s^hould be tested by act- 
ual experience. They, therefore, recommended that measures 
should be adopted without delay by the city, for filling up the 
space on its own account, before entering upon any considera- 
tion of the subject of leasing it ; and they entered into state- 
ments and reasonings, showing that the cost of filling up the 
proposed space of wharf in the most substantial manner, could 
not exceed twenty thousand dollars, and that when filled up, the 
annual receipt would probably be at least eigld thousand dollars, 
and could not be less than six thousand. The Committee there- 
fore recommended two resolutions, — the first authorizing the 
filling up the wharf rights, with authority to borrow, not exceed- 
ing twenty thousand dollars, for that purpose ; and the second, 
directing that the income hereafter derived from these wharf 
rights should be placed in the hands of the Committee for the 
reduction of the city debt, until the said income should equal 
the amount of debt created under the first resolution. This 
report was accepted, and the resolutions passed unanimously in 
both branches of the City Council ; and the Committee who 
reported the resolutions were authorized to carry them into 
effect. 

There were at this time active influences without doors at 
work to induce the City Council to make sale of these wharf 
and dockage rights. Capitalists see early and clearly the value 
of choice locations for business and investment. And, in rela- 
tion to city property, if the City Council can be prevailed upon 
by temptations of a higher price than, at the time the average 
rate of land in the vicinity commands, by the desire to diminish 
the amount of taxation for the passing year, or to reduce the 
city debt, the more important consideration of the permanent 
value of precious localities to the general interests of the city is 
apt to be disregarded, when weighed in the scale against tem- 
porary advantage or popularity. In this case, the sale of these 
flats was pressed upon the Mayor and other members of the 
Committee with urgency. The idea of ever obtaining an 
income from them of ciffld thousand dollars was ridiculed. The 
popularity to be obtained by an immediate large reduction of 
the debt incurred by erecting the New Market was set forth in 
strong lights. The actual result will be the best comment on the 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 24-5 

wisdom and firk:ness of the City Council. The flats were filled 
up at an expense of less than nineteen tliousand dollars; and in 
September, 1832, the then City Council leased the wharf and 
dock rights for twenty years on an annual rent of teyi thousand 
dollars, on condition that ten substantial brick stores, to the 
acceptance of the City Council, should be built thereon, and 
kept insured and in good order, and should revert to the city in 
fee simple at the end of the lease. In September, 1852, this 
wharf, dock rights, and stores will consequently revert to the 
city, and thus a property, which, in 1826, the City Council did not 
ventm-e to estimate higher than one hundred thousand dollars, has, 
by the wisdom and foresight of successive City Councils, risen, 
at this day, to the value of at least four hundred thousand 
dollars} 

1 See page 203. 



21 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1828. 

JosiAn QuixcY, Mayor. 

The Annexation of South Boston to the Ancient City, and the Difficulties 
attending it — Project of Semi- Annual Sales of Domestic Manufactures in 
the City — The Hall over the New Market appropriated for the Object — 
Question concerning the Eligibility of Members of the City Council to City 
Offices — State and Progress of the Fire Department — Resignation of the 
Chief Engineer — His Gratuitous Services — Vote of Thanks to him by the 
City Council — Prosperous State of City Affairs — The Mayor declines being 
a Candidate for Reelection — Harrison Gray Otis chosen Mayor. 

At the commencement of the present century, the tract of 
land, now called South Boston, was a part of the town of 
Dorchester, and inhabited by a few families, chiefly engaged in 
agriculture. At that period, it was purchased by a number of 
enterprising citizens, most of whom were capitalists, who ob- 
tained from the inhabitants of Boston a vote authorizing an 
application to the Legislature of the State for its annexation 
to that town. As the original project contemplated the erection 
of a bridge from South Street, or Sea Street, to South Boston, 
a violent opposition to the plan arose among the proprietors 
of wharves lying above the proposed site. After warm discus- 
sions in the public newspapers and town meetings, the propo- 
sition resulted in a compromise, fixing the locality of the bridge 
above most of the wharves, whose proprietors were thus relieved 
from the apprehended obstruction of the channel; but, at the 
same time, the expectations of immediate profit formed by the 
original associates in the project were materially diminished. To 
carry into effect the compromise, three acts were passed by the 
Legislature of the State on the same day (sixth of JMarch, 1804.) 
By the first, the part of Dorchester now called South Boston 
was annexed to Boston. By the second, the proprietors of the 
purchased lands were constituted a corporation, with autliority 
to erect a bridge from the southwesterly part of Boston to Dor- 



CITY GOVERNISIENT. 247 

Chester Neck. By the third, the proprietors of certain lands at 
the south part of Boston were authorized to open a street from 
Rainsford Lane to the proposed site of the new bridge. 

The several powers granted by these acts were executed, in 
conformity with the compromise. The population of South 
Boston gi'adually increased until the year 1822, when the pro- 
ject of building a bridge from South or Sea Street revived, and 
constituted one of the most important and exciting topics of 
discussion during the two first administrations of the city go- 
vernment. All the bitter animosities and apprehensions were 
renewed, which the compromise of 1804 had allayed. No effi- 
cient support was, however, obtained for the measure until 
March, 1824. A petition from the inhabitants of South Boston 
was then presented to a general meeting of the inhabitants of 
the city, and a vote was passed, after several days debate, by 
a great majority — 2,487 in the affirmative, 779 in the negative 
— requesting the City Government to petition the Legislatm-e for 
liberty to erect the proposed bridge. The City Council pre- 
pared and presented a petition, in conformity with the vote of 
the citizens ; but the conflicting passions and interests the sub- 
ject excited succeeded in postponing any conclusive measure 
until the twenty-fifth of February, 1825. A bill tlien passed the 
Legislature, authorizing the city to build a bridge, to be free of 
toll from or near Sea or South Street to South Boston. This act 
was referred in the City Council to the IVIayor, Aldermen Bax- 
ter, Odiorne, and Child, and to S. K. Williams, Russell, Ballard, 
Lodge, and Lincoln of the Common Council. They reported, 
that the City ought not to erect the bridge, but recommended 
that a committee should be appointed to advertise for proposals 
to build it, indemnify the City from all expenses, and compen- 
sation for damages, and to comply with all the requisitions of 
the act of the Legislature. The Committee who made this 
report were authorized by the City Council to issue such pro- 
posals. On the sixteenth of May, they stated to that body, that 
they had issued and advertised for proposals, but no application 
of any kind had been received in reference to the object ; and, 
therefore, recommended to the City Council to take no farther 
measures on the subject. This report was accepted in both 
branches. 

Other attempts to harmonize these confficting interests, such as 



248 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

appointing commissioners, and endeavoring to purchase South 
Boston Bridge by means of subscriptions, were wholly unsuc- 
cessful. The friends of the original project, therefore, applied to 
the Legislature, and, by an act passed in March, 1826, obtained 
a repeal of the act of February, 1825, and an authority for the 
petitioners, with others, to build the proposed bridge, provided it 
should be done in such manner as the city of Boston should 
approve; — the corporation, thus constituted, to be subject to all 
damages resulting from its erection, light it, keep it in repair, and 
provide facilities for raising the draw, until the city of Boston 
should assume the care of it, when the corporation was to be 
relieved from all these obligations. The act contained also a 
provision granting to the city of Boston the right to build the 
bridge, if they availed themselves of the privilege within three 
months. As the corporation could not proceed until the decision 
of the city was known, they immediately submitted the act to 
the City Council, and asked a conference on the subject. This 
application was referred to the Mayor, Aldermen Bellows, Mar- 
shall, and Loring, who, after deliberation and conference with the 
applicants, reported, that it was inexpedient for the City Coun- 
cil to take any order in relation to the right and liberty to build 
the bridge conferred on the city by the act. 

The subject remained in this state until January, 1827, when 
the corporation communicated to the city government their 
intention to build the bridge ; and, after stating the material of 
which they proposed to construct it, submitted the mode and 
the manner of constructing it to the decision of the City Coun- 
cil, and inquired whether the city would assume the care of the 
bridge and the obligation to keep it in repair, light it, and pro- 
vide facihties for raising the draw, after it should be constructed. 

This application was refen-ed to the Mayor, Aldermen Bel- 
lows, Welsh, and Boies, and to Messrs. James, Morey, Russell, 
Phillips, Hallett, Howe, and Dyer, of the Common Council. In 
this committee were discussed all the questions growing out of 
the inquiries of the corporation ; also, whether it should proceed 
from South Street or Sea Street, and how the expense attending 
the enlargement of it, which was contemplated, should be dis- 
bursed ; and whether it should be accepted by the city even after 
it should be built in the manner prescribed by the City Council. 
All these questions were debated with gi'cat zeal by the respect- 



CITY GOVERmiEXT. 249 

ive parties. Several meetings were held, — times and places 
were appointed, at which all persons interested might appear 
before the Committee ; and upon most of them the Committee 
were nearly equally divided. A sub-committee had made a 
report at large, and concluded in favor of the bridge's proceeding 
from South Street, by a majority of tliree out oi five. This 
report the Committee rejected, and substituted Sea Street for 
South Street, by a majority of seven out of twelve. And on the 
twenty-second of February they reported, by a like majority, 
that the bridge should be built from Sea Street ; and that, if 
made and finished in such manner as the City Council should 
direct, it would be expedient to accept the bridge, light, keep it 
in repair, and provide facilities for the draw, so long as South 
Boston should remain a part of the city of Boston. This report 
was accepted in both branches of the City Council, and a series 
of resolutions passed, in conformity with the recommendation of 
the Committee, specifying the mode in which the bridge should 
be built, and the terms on which it would be accepted, and a 
committee of the City Council and a competent engineer to 
superintend building the bridge, and to see that the terms were 
complied with, were appointed. 

Notwithstanding these precautions, when, in June, 1828, the 
bridge was offered to the City Council for their acceptance, 
opposition to the measure revived, and remonstrances against its 
acceptance were presented. The City Council, however, early 
in July, discharged the Superintendent, and the Common Coun- 
cil voted to accept the bridge. In this, however, the Mayor and 
Aldermen did not concm*, and appointed a committee, who 
made a report, accepted by the Board of Aldermen, and non- 
concurred in the Common Council. The disagi-eement between 
the two branches was finally brought to a close by the appoint- 
ment of a joint-committee, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen 
Loring, Fennelly, Pickering, Upham and Armstrong, and of 
Messrs. Betton, Seaver, Paine, Howe and Pickman of the Com- 
mon Council, with full powers, to accept the free bridge, and to 
submit all differences to the arbitration of three persons mutu- 
ally to be chosen, with powers also in the Committee to cany 
their award into effect, and report the result to the City Council. 

Loammi Baldwin', Samuel Hubbard, and Willard Phillips 
were appointed referees, in conformity with this authority ; and 



250 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

on the seventh of October, ] 828, the Committee reported to the 
City Council the award of these referees, which was, in efTect, 
that " the pubHc convenience required that the city should forth- 
with accept the said bridge, and, in consequence of its unfinished 
state, that the corporation should pay to the city sixteen hun- 
dred and seven dollars, and deliver to it certain enumerated 
deeds." The Committee recommended, that a vote should be 
passed by both branches of the City Council, authorizing a ful- 
filment of the conditions of the award. A vote was passed in 
conformity with this recommendation ; and this long, perplexing, 
and exciting controversy was thus brought to a final conclusion. 

The apparent intimate connection between the prosperity of 
the city and of that of the manufacturing interests of the State 
and vicinity, led to the expression of a general desire, that an 
attempt should be made to foster those interests, by an exhibi- 
tion and sale of domestic manufactures annually within the city. 
The Mayor, coinciding with these views, in October, 1825, 
recommended, by special message, the subject to the attention 
of the City Council, and suggested the adaptation of the hall 
over the New Market to this project, and the policy of appro- 
priating it in whole or in part to carry it into effect. This com- 
munication was referred to the Mayor, Aldermen Bellows, Mar- 
shall, and Bryant, and to Messrs. Williams, Hallett, Parker, 
Barry, and Boies, of the Common Council. 

In consequence of this movement, various plans and propo- 
sitions were made and discussed between the Committee or its 
members, and persons interested in manufactures ; and in Jan- 
uary, 1826, on the petition of Patrick T. Jackson, in behalf of an 
association, for the public exhibition or sale of domestic manu- 
factures, the Committee reported that the petitioners should 
have, for the purposes of such exhibition and sale, the use of so 
much of the upper story of the New Market House as they 
might require for the present year, not exceeding twenty days in 
the spring and twenty days in the autumn. Their report was 
accepted in both branches. 

And in the ensuing July, on the petition of the Society for the 
promotion of Manufactures and the Mechanic Arts, the entire 
haU over the New Market, or as much as might be necessary or 
convenient for them, was devoted to their use, during the months 
of September and October, for the purposes of exhibition and 



CITY GOVERN^IENT. 251 

sales of domestic goods and mechanic inventions, free of all 
charges ; and, on the twelfth of September, the first auction 
sale under this grant was holden. In January and July, 1827, 
the New England Society for the promotion of Manufactures 
and ]\Iechanic Arts petitioned for the same privilege, and the 
City Council granted the use of the hall for the exhibition and 
sale of domestic manufactures and wool, for twenty days in 
March and twenty days in August. 

The success of these exhibitions and sales led to a petition, in 
the ensuing November, having for its object to place the accom- 
modation they had received from the use of the hall on a more 
permanent footing, which, being referred to the ]\Iayor, Alder- 
men Loring and Savage, and Messrs. Dorr, Russell, Parker, and 
Ward, a report was made by them, stating that the sole ob- 
ject of this Society was to effect, through the means of semi- 
annual auction sales of domestic manufactures a change in the 
course of business, by bringing foreign purchasers to the domes- 
tic market, and thus relieving om* manufacturers from the neces- 
sity of seeldng a market in other States and countries ; that 
the Society had few funds, and derived no emolument what- 
ever from its labors ; that the effect of such semi-annual sales 
could not but be highly advantageous to the progressive pros- 
perity of the city, and the advantage, in the opinion of the 
Committee, was a sufficient justification and inducement to 
the City Council for such an appropriation of the hall over 
the Market as the petitioners solicit. Thus far, the experiment 
of these auction sales had been as successful as could reasonably 
have been expected ; the gross proceeds of all the three semi- 
annual sales had amounted to upwards of $956,000. The 
tendency of them to bring foreign purchasers, at the season of 
these sales, to this meti'opolis, and the effect on its prosperity, 
direct and incidental, were so obvious and unquestionable, that 
the Committee could not hesitate to recommend such an acqui- 
escence in the prayer of the petition as will place the subject, 
at all times, under the control of the City Council, and yet give 
the petitioners the assurance of the permanent patronage of the 
institution by the City Government, until a future City Council 
should take a different view of the interests of the city. The 
Committee recommended that the New England Society for 
the promotion of Manufactures and Mechanic Arts should have 



252 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the hall for the purpose of their annual sales from the fifteenth 
of March to the fifteenth of April, and from the fifteenth of 
August until the fifteenth of September, until the further order 
of the City Council, and that six months notice should be 
given to the Society of the rescinding of this privilege. 

This report was accepted in both branches of the City Council. 

These semi-annual sales not only produced those advantages 
to the city, which had been anticipated, but proved highly bene- 
ficial to the manufacturing interests ; all the various classes of 
which were well represented in them. They w^ere numerously 
attended by traders from all parts of the United States. Some 
of the best purchasers from the South and West were attracted 
by them to the city, some of whom became subsequently regular 
customers. The prices obtained were generally quite satisfac- 
tory to the owners of the goods, and advantageous to all parties. 
Between September, 1826, and March, 1832, there were twelve 
of such sales. The total amount of the proceeds cannot be at 
this day (1851) exactly ascertained ; but they cannot be esti- 
mated at less than from five to six millions of dollars ; since two 
only of the auctioneers ^ employed in those sales, disposed of 
more than $4,645,000 in value. Notwithstanding this success, 
these semi-annual sales were discontinued in 1832 ; for reasons 
never, it is believed, officially stated, but generally attributed to 
the influence of certain large commission merchants and jobbers, 
who imagined that these sales interfered with their particular 
interests. This discontinuance was, however, in direct oppo- 
sition to the opinion of many of our most intelligent merchants 
and manufacturers, who regarded these sales as among the most 
effective means of advancing and prospectively giving a great 
impulse to the prosperity of the city, as well as promoting the 
manufacturing interests of the State. In these views the late 
Patrick T. Jackson zealously concurred ; and no citizen, at that 
period, watched over the interest of both with a more practical, 
philosophic, and patriotic spirit. 

In June, 1827, a question was raised in the Common Coun- 
cil, whether a member of the City Council could be legally 
appointed by them a surveyor of boards and lumber. The sub- 
ject was referred to the Mayor and Alderman Savage, and to 

1 Whitwell, Bond & Co. ; CooUtlgc, Poor & Head. 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 253 

Messrs. Gray, James, and Moray, of the Common Council, who 
reported, — 

That there are two clauses of the city charter, which restrict 
the eligibility to office of members of the City Council ; the one 
contained in the twenty-first, and the other in the tiuenty-second 
section of that instrument. The former is in these words: 
" Provided, however, that no person shall be eligible to any 
office, the salary of which is payable out of the city treasmy, 
who, at the time of his appointment, shall be a member either 
of the Board of Aldermen or Common Council." As the salary, 
or compensation of a sm-veyor of boards and lumber, is not pay- 
able out of the city treasury, the eligibility to this office of a 
member of either branch of the City Council is not affected by 
the proviso. The remaining clause is in these w^ords : — " And 
neither the INIayor, nor any Alderman, or member of the Com- 
mon Council, shall, at the same time, hold any office under 
the City Government." The Committee were of opinion, that 
the office of surveyor of boards and lumber, not being created by 
the City Government, nor the oliicer responsible to it, is not such 
an office as a member of the City Council is prohibited from 
holding under the above recited clause of the twenty-second 
article of the City Charter. 

The Report was accepted by both branches of the City 
Council. 

During the years 1827 and 1828, the spirit in wdiich the Fire 
Department had been in the preceding year instituted was sus- 
tained and invigorated. Mr. Harris had been in each year suc- 
cessively reelected to the office of chief engineer, unanimously, 
in both branches of the City Council. The discipline of the de- 
partment had been maintained by him and the other officers and 
members. In 1826, one company of enginemen had been dis- 
missed for insubordination ; and in 1827, another discharged for 
remissness in their duty as enginemen. In both instances, new 
companies were readily formed. Engine-houses were enlarged ; 
the accommodation of the engine companies increased. The 
great deficiencies of the old engines, in respect of active service, 
W'Cre supplied. These improvements, and the almost entire 
change of apparatus, in order to adapt it to effective operations 
under the new system, led unavoidably, as has already been 
stated, to gi-eat expenditures, wholly without precedent in the 
22 



254 MUNICirAL HISTORY. 

previous system of protection against firc.^ In a report, made by 
a committee of the City Council, the nature and causes of these 
expenditures were detailed and explained. Under other circum- 
stances, the amount would have probably given rise to severe 
popular animadversions; but the efficiency of the new system, 
and the general satisfaction with its success, silenced complaint. 
The requisite appropriations were always passed, in both branches 
of the City Council, without difficulty, and almost without cavil. 
At this period, the number of active members of the department, 
officers of all ranks included, amounted to twelve hvmdred strong, 
chiefly young men, under the command of one chief, and twelve 
assistant engineers ; all selected, with great care, from men of 
suitable age and characteristic activity. 

The whole Fire Department being in this state of high disci- 
pline and preparation, on the eighth of October, 1828, the Chief 
Engineer addressed a letter to the INIayor resigning his office, on 
account of the inadequacy of his health to its duties ; and, after 
expressing " his obligations to the officers and members of it, for 
their prompt and willing cooperation in bringing the new system 
into efficiency," added, " that the department was adequate to 
all the purposes of its establishment, and possessed a body of 
men, whose alacrity, zeal, and devotedness could not be sur- 
passed." The Mayor postponed communicating this resigna- 
tion to the City Council, and made various endeavors to induce 
INIr. Harris to withdraw it, all of which proved fruitless. On the 
eighth of December, therefore, having communicated the resigna- 
'tion of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Aldermen, and it 
having been accepted by them, the Mayor transmitted to the 
City Council a message stating that " it was now nearly three 
years since Colonel Harris had been appointed to that office, 
and that during this period an entire renovation had been effected 
in that department, the number of its members greatly increased, 
and a spirit of harmony, subordination, and efficiency introduced 
into it highly honorable to those Avho compose it, as well as to 
the city, and, it was believed, universally satisfactory to our 
fellow-citizens. 

" In all the aiTangements connected with these improvements, 
the zeal, intelligence, and firmness of Samuel Devens Harris, in 

1 See page 205. 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 255 

the office of Chief Engineer, had been conspicuous, and emi- 
nently contributed to their adoption and success. At the time 
of his appointment, the expectation was generally entertained, 
that a salary would be annexed to that office, and the prin- 
ciple on which the new organization of that department was 
advocated and adopted, in both branches of the City Council, 
amounted to an assurance that an adequate compensation would 
be fixed for his services. He had, however, held the office but 
a short time,i before he particularly requested the Mayor not to 
bring tlie subject of his compensation before tlie City Council, 
assigning as a reason, that, having the command of a depart- 
ment consisting wholly of volunteers, he was of opinion that his 
influence and usefulness would be disadvantageously affected by 
his acceptance of a salary. The conduct of this officer, in every 
thing relative to the discipline, orderly arrangement, and efficiency 
of the department, had been so exemplary and disinterested, that 
the Mayor deemed it his duty to recommend the subject to the 
consideration of the City Council, that such an expression of 
theu' sense of his services may be made, as they should deem 
just and suitable." 

This message was referred to a joint committee, consisting of 
Aldermen Loring and Hall, and Messrs. Ofiver, Everett, Means, 
and Aspinwall, of the Common Council. On the twenty-second 
of December, this Committee reported the following order for 
the adoption of the City Council : — 

" Whereas, the City Council hold in high estimation the services rendered 
this city by Samuel Devens Harris, late Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, 
and are convinced that the general spirit of harmony, of subordination, and 
efficiency, which characterize that department, and render it highly honorable 
to those who compose it, and useful to the city, is to be attributed, in a great 
degree, to the intelligence, the zeal, and active exertions of its late chief, — 

It is therefore Ordered, That the thanks of the City Council be, and they 
hereby are, presented to Samuel Devens Harris, for the faithful, arduous, and 
highly useful services, gratuitously rendered by him for nearly three years, in 
the office of Chief Engineer of the Fire Department." 

This Report, being read and accepted, the Order was passed, 
by a unanimous vote, in both branches of the City Council. 
The seventh year of the city government (1828) had passed 

1 See page 209. 



256 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

with great apparent unanimity and general satisfaction. The 
measures, which had been devised and commenced by the 
several succeeding City Councils, during the preceding years, 
were either completed or in successful progress. The New 
Market had been finished, and all the accounts connected with 
that improvement were settled ; provision for the gradual pay- 
ment, by instalments, of the debt it had created, had been made ; 
and also for the final discharge of that debt and its accruing 
interest out of the proceeds of the real estate, consisting of land 
and wharf rights, and other funds, which the wisdom of those 
City Councils had acquired. During these years, besides the 
expenditures connected with the purchases and improvements 
about the New Market, many streets, which were great thorough- 
fares in various parts of the city, had been widened. The Fire 
Department had been put into efficient operation, to the appa- 
rent satisfaction of all. A House of Correction, and a House 
of Reformation of Juvenile Offenders had been established ; 
the House of Industry had been completed and the poor trans- 
ferred to it, to the acknowledged improvement of their condition, 
and the manifest benefit of the city. The title to the lands 
lying west of Charles Street, called the Ropewalk Lands, had 
also been obtained and secured. Deer Island had been effectu- 
ally protected by a sea-wall from the action of the elements; 
appropriations for that object having been solicited by the city 
and granted by Congress. George's and Lo veil's Islands had 
been purchased, and the title to them transferred by the city to 
the United States ; for whom also the jurisdiction of those 
islands had been obtained from the Commonwealth. These 
prospective measures led, in subsequent years, to the erection 
of those efficient fortifications which now command and protect 
the outer harbor of Boston. 

And in relation to the incomes and expenditures of the City 
for the preceding financial year, William Hayden, the City 
Auditor, in his official report, dated the fifteenth of May, 1828, 
stated that " the aggregate amount of the incomes of the city 
had exceeded the aggregate amount of its expenditures ; and 
that the results afforded a practical illustration of the wisdom 
and spirit of economy, which characterized the proceedings of 
the last City Council, and led to the adoption of a system of self- 
restriction in regard to appropriations, and of confining the ordi- 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 257 

nary expenditures of the year within the limits of its ordinary 
annual income." And the City Auditor closed this report by 
the following remarks: — " It is believed, that the results of the 
financial operations of the last year, while they must be highly 
satisfactory to those, in whose hands the citizens have placed 
the control of their public funds, will have a tendency to sustain 
that confidence, which the people of this city have reposed in its 
government ; for they show conclusively, that while those great 
improvements which the public interest seemed most obviously 
to demand, have been originated and matured, the city govern- 
ment had not lost sight of that point, at which a system of eco- 
nomical restriction should commence." 

In this state of general prosperity and satisfaction with the 
affairs of the city, the municipal year drew towards its close. 
No other than those general objects of attention, which are 
incident to every condition of municipal relation, appeared, at 
the moment, to be subjects of general anticipation or desire. 
No special cause of public discontent had occurred within the 
year. To apply wisely and faithfully the resources of the city 
to those exigencies which time must produce, and a rapidly 
increasing population rendered unavoidable, embraced appa- 
rently the whole sphere of duty for the ensuing City Coun- 
cils. 

The office of Mayor had now been sustained almost six years, 
by the same individual. The novelty of the office, the diversity 
of opinions relative to its powers, extensive public improvements, 
and many new institutions, had rendered his administration one 
of pecuhar trial and difficulty. It had been, however, power- 
fully supported, and to general satisfaction, as the results of six 
successive elections evidenced. 

At the usual period of municipal election, in 1828, after two 
trials, on the eighth ^ and fifteenth ^ of December, it appeared 
that the Mayor had not received the majority of votes, which 
the law required for his reelection, although in both the number 

1 The whole number of votes cast on this trial was . . 4,082 

Requisite to a choice, . . . 2,042 

Of which Josiah Quincy had .... 1,959 

2 The whole number of votes cast on this trial was . 5,253 

Requisite to a choice, • • • 2,627 

Of which Josiah Quincy had . . . 2,561 

22 * 



258 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

closely approximated to it. As soon, therefore, as the last result 
was known, he sent to the press the following note : — 

TO THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON. 

After the result of the recent elections, I deem myself at liberty 
to decline, — as I now do, — being any longer a candidate for 
the office of Mayor. 

To the end, that no future candidate may be deprived of 
votes, cast in my favor, I deem it proper to state, that no consi- 
deration will induce me again to accept that office. 
Very respectfully, 

I am your fellow citizen, 

JOSIAII QuiNCY. 

Boston, IGtli December, 1828. 

On the ensuing twenty-second of December, Harrison Gray 
Otis was chosen Mayor without opposition. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. 

JosiAii QuiNCY, Mayor. 

Address of the Mayor on taking final Leave of the Office — His Acknowledg- 
ments to the Members of the Board of Aldermen, Common Council, and 
his Fellow-Citizens — Measures and Results of the Past Administration : 
for Protection of the City against Fire ; and of the Islands against Storms ; 
for the Health of the Inhabitants ; for Public Education ; in Favor of Public 
Morals ; for increasing the Financial Resources of the City and reducing its 
Debt — Principles on which his Conduct in Office had been guided. Tribute 
to his Successor. 

The circumstances which caused the Mayor to dechne being 
again a candidate, led him to consider it due to his associates 
and himself to state publicly the views and principles which, 
during nearly six years, had guided the administration of the 
city government. 

Having given intimation of this intention to the Board of 
Aldermen, they passed an order to the City Clerk "to give 
notice to the President of the Common Council, that the Board 
of Aldermen stood adjourned to Saturday, the third of Janu- 
ary, 1829, at one o'clock, at which time and place it is expected 
that the Mayor will address the Board, previous to his leaving 
the Chair, in order that any gentlemen of the Common Council 
may attend if they see fit." 

Accordingly, on that day, in the chamber of the Common 
Council, in the presence of its members and of other citizens, 
the Mayor delivered the following address to the Board of 
Aldermen, who, after retiring to their room. Voted,, " To request 
a copy of it for the press, and that the whole Board wait upon 
him for that purpose." ' 



260 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 



GENTLEMEN OP THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN : 

Having been called, nearly six years since, by my fellow-citi- 
zens, to the office of their chief magistrate, and having, during 
that period, lieen six times honored by their suffrages for that 
station, I have endeavored, uniformly, to perform its duties to 
the best of my ability, with unremitting zeal and fidelity. At 
the late election it was twice indicated, by a majority of those 
who thought the subject important enough to attend the polls, 
that they were willing to dispense with my services. According 
to the sound principles of a republican constitution, by which 
the will of a majority, distinctly expressed, concerning the con- 
tinuance in office of pubfic servants, is, to them the rule of duty, 
I withdrew from being any longer a cause of division to my fel- 
low-citizens ; declaring that " no consideration would induce 
me again to accept that office." These were not words of pas- 
sion, or of wounded pride, or temporary disgust ; but of deep 
conviction, concerning future duty, in attaining which, my obli- 
gations to my fellow-citizens were weighed as carefully as those 
which I owe to my own happiness and self-respect. 

I stand, then, to this office, in a relation final and forever 
closed. There are rights and duties which result from this con- 
dition. It is an occasion on which acknowledgments ought to 
be made, feelings to be expressed, justice to be done, obligations 
to be performed. To fulfil these duties, I have thought proper 
to seek and avail myself of this opportunity. 

And first, gentlemen, permit me to express to you that deep 
and lasting sen«e of gratitude which is felt for all the kindness, 
support, and encouragement with which you have lightened and 
strengthened official labors. In bearing testimony to the intelH- 
gence, activity, and fidelity with which you have fulfilled the 
duties of your station, I but join the common voice of your fellow- 
citizens. With me, your intercourse has been uniformly charac- 
terized by a willing and affectionate zeal ; leaving, in this respect, 
nothing to be desired ; and resulting, on my part, in an esteem 
which will make the recollection of our association in these duties 
among the most grateful of my fife. Aqpept my thanks for the 
interest and assiduity with which you have aided and sustained 
endeavors to advance the prosperity of this city. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 261 

T owe also to the gentlemen of the Common Council a public 
expression of my obligations for the candor and urbanity with 
which they have received and canvassed all my communications. 
It is a happy omen for our city, that, for so many successive 
years, the intercourse between the branches and members of its 
government has been distinguished for gentlemanly character, 
not less than for official respect. The collisions which are natu- 
rally to be expected in a community where rival interests and 
passions exist, have never disturbed the harmony of either coun- 
cil. When diversity of opinion has arisen, a spirit of mutual 
concession has presided over the controversy. Happy I if in this 
respect, past years shall be prototypes of those which are to 
come. 

To my fellow-citizens who, for so many years have supported 
or endured an administration conducted on none of the princi- 
ples by which popularity is ordinarily sought and acquired, I 
have no language to express my respect or my gratitude. I 
know well that recent events have given rise, in some minds, to 
reflections on the fickleness of the popular will, and on the ingra- 
titude of republics. As if the right to change was not as inhe- 
rent as the right to continue ; for the just exercise of this right, 
the people being responsible, and to bear the consequences. 
As if permission to serve a people at all, and the opportunity 
thus afforded to be useful to the community to which we belong 
and owe so many obligations, were not ample recompense for 
any labors or any sacrifices made or endured in its behalf. Is it 
wonderful, or a subject of reproach, that, in a populous city, 
where infinitely varying passions and prejudices and interests 
and motives must necessarily exist, an individual who had 
enjoyed the favor of its citizens for six years should be deprived 
of it on the seventh ? Is it not more a matter of surprise, that it 
has been enjoyed so long, than that it is lost at last ? 

At no one moment have I concealed from myself or my feUow- 
citizens, that the experiment of a new government was one very 
dubious in its effects on continuance in office. Who that knows 
the nature of man, and the combinations which, for particular 
ends, at times take place in society, could hesitate to believe that 
an administration which should neither court the few, nor stand 
in awe of the many, which should identify itself exclusively with 
the rights of the city, maintaining them not merely with the 



262 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

zeal of official station, but with the pertinacious spirit of private 
interest ; which, in executing the laws, should hunt vice in its 
recesses, turn light upon the darkness of its haunts, and \\Test 
the poisonous cup from the hand of the unlicensed pander ; 
which should dare to resist private cupidity, seeking to corrupt ; 
personal influence, striving to sway ; party rancor, slandering 
to intimidate ; — would, in time, become obnoxious to all whom 
it prosecuted or punished ; all whose passions it thwarted ; 
wiiose projects it detected ; whose interests it crossed ? Who 
could doubt that, from these causes, there would in time come 
an accumulation of discontent ; that, sooner or later, the ground 
swell would rise above the landmarks with a tide which would 
sweep it from its foundations ? 

In the first address which, nearly six years ago, I had the 
honor to make to the City Council, the operation of these causes 
was distinctly stated, almost in the terms just used ; and the 
event which has now occuiTcd was anticipated. Nothing was 
then promised except " a laborious fulfilment of every known 
duty ; a prudent exercise of every invested power ; a disposition 
shrinking from no official responsibility ; and an absolute self- 
devotion to the interest of the city." 

I stand this day in the midst of the multitude of my brethren, 
and ask, without pride, yet without fear. Have I failed in fulfill- 
ing this promise ? Let your hearts answer. 

Other obfigations remain. A connection which has subsisted 
long and happily is about to be dissolved, and forever. To look 
back on the past, and consider the present, is natural and pro- 
per on the occasion. I stand indebted to my fellow-citizens for 
a length and uniformity of support seldom exemplified in cities 
where the executive office depends upon popular election. They 
have stood by me nobly, and with effect, in six trials ; in the 
seventh, though successless, I was not forsaken. 

To such men I owe more than silent gratitude. Their friend- 
ship, their favor, the honors they have so liberally bestowed, 
demand return, not in words, but in acts. I owe it to such 
goodness to show that their confidence has not been misplaced ; 
their favor not been abused ; and that their friendship and sup- 
port, so often given in advance, have been justified by the 
event. 

What then has the departing city administration done ? what 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 263 

good has it effected ? what evil averted ? what monuments exist 
of its faithfulness and efficiency ? 

If, in the recapitulation I am about to make, I shall speak in 
general terms, and sometimes in language of apparent personal 
reference, let it be understood, once for all, that this will be 
owing to the particular relation in which I stand at this moment 
to the subject and to my fellow-citizens; and by no means to 
any disposition to claim more than a common share of what- 
ever credit belongs to that administration. This, I delight to 
acknowledge, is chiefly due to those excellent and faithfvil men, 
who, during successive years have, in both branches of the City 
Council, been the light and support of the government ; by 
whose intelligence and practical skill I have conducted its affairs 
full as often as by my own. The obligations I owe to these 
men I mean neither to deny nor to conceal. Speedily, and as 
soon as other duties permit, it is my purpose, in another way and 
in a more permanent form, to do justice to their gratuitous 
labors and unobtrusive fidelity. 

Touching the measures and results of the administration 
which will soon be past, I necessarily confine myself to a few 
particular topics ; and those, either the most vital to our safety 
and prosperity, or, in my apprehension, the most necessary to be 
understood. Time will not permit, nor, on this occasion, would 
it be proper to speak of all the various objects of a prudential, 
economical, restrictive, or ornamental character, which, in adapt- 
ing a new organization of government to the actual state of 
things, have been attempted or executed. 

I shall chiefly refer to what has been done by way of protec- 
tion against the elements ; in favor of the general health ; in 
support of public education ; and in advancement of public 
morals. 

The element which chiefly endangers cities is that of Fire. 
It cannot at this day be forgotten by my fellow-citizens with 
what labor and hazard of popularity the old department was 
abolished, and the new established. From the visible and active 
energy which members of a fire department take in the protec- 
tion of the city against that element, they always have been, 
and always must be, objects of general regard. Great as is the 
just popularity at present enjoyed by that department, the same 
public favor was largely enjoyed by their predecessors. Those 



264 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

who at that time composed it were a hardy, industi'ious, effect- 
ive body of men, who had been long inm-ed to the service, and 
who, having the merit of veterans, naturally imbibed the errors 
into which old soldiers in a regular service are accustomed to 
fall. They were prejudiced in favor of old modes and old wea- 
pons. They had little or no confidence in a hose system ; and 
above all they were beset with the opinion that the continuance 
of their corps was essential to the safety of the city. More than 
once it was said distinctly to the executive of the city, that " if 
they threw down the engines, none else could be found capable 
of taking them up." Under the influence of such opinions, they 
demanded of the city a specified annual sum for each company. 
It was refused. And in one day all the engines in the city were 
surrendered by their respective companies ; and on the same 
day every engine was supplied with a new company by the 
voluntary association of public-spirited individuals. 

From that time, a regular, systematic organization of the 
Fire Department was begun and gradually effected. The best 
models of engines were sought. The best experience consulted 
wiiich our own or other cities possessed. New engines were 
obtained ; old ones repaked. Proper sites for engine houses 
sought ; when suitable locations were found, pmx-hascd ; and 
those built upon ; when such were not found, they were hired. 
No requisite preparation for efficiency was omitted ; and every 
reasonable inducement to enter and remain in the service was 
extended. 

The efficient force and state of preparation of this department 
now consists of twelve hundred men and officers ; twenty 
engines ; one hook and ladder company ; eight hundred buck- 
ets ; seven thousand feet of hose ; twenty-five hose carriages ; 
and every species of apparatus necessary for strength of the 
department, or for the accommodation of its members. 

In this estimate, also, ought to be included fifteen reservoirs, 
containing three hundred and fifty thousand gallons of water, 
located in different parts of the city, besides those sunk in the 
Mill Creek, and the command of water obtained by those con- 
nected with the pipes belonging to the aqueduct. 

Of all the expenditures of the city government, none perhaps 
have been so often denominated extravagant as those connected 
with this department. But when the voluntary nature of the 



CITY GOYERX^ilENT. 265 

service, its importance, and the security and confidence actually 
attained are considered, it is believed they can be justified. 

In four years, all the objects enumerated, including the reser- 
voirs, have cost a sum not exceeding sixty thousand dollars, 
which is about forty-eight thousand dollars more than tlic old 
department, in a like series of years, was accustomed to cost. 
The value of the fLxed and permanent property now existing in 
engine houses and their sites, engines and apparatus, and reser- 
voir's, cannot be estimated at less than twenty thousand dollars. 
So that the actual expenditure of the new department beyond 
the old, for these four years, cannot be stated at more than five 
thousand dollars a year, or twenty thousand dollars. Now it 
will be found that, in consequence solely of the efficiency of this 
department, there has been a reduction of twenty per cent, on the 
rate of insurance within the period above specified. By this 
reduction of prcmivims alone, there is an annual gain to the city 
on its insurable real estate of ten thousand dollars ; the whole 
cost remunerated in two years. In this connection, let it be 
remembered how great is the security, in this respect, now 
enjoyed by the city ; and that, previously to its establishment, 
two fires, — that in Central, Kilby, and Broad Streets ; and that 
in Beacon Street, — occasioned a loss to it, at the least estimate, 
of eight hundred thousand dollars ! 

Unquestionably, greater economy may be introduced hereafter 
into this department, in modes which were impracticable at its 
commencement and in its earlier progi'ess. Measures having 
that tendency have been suggested. These, doubtless, future 
city councils will adopt, or substitute in their stead such as are 
wiser and better. 

All the chief great expenses, necessary to perfect efficiency, 
have been incuiTcd ; and little more remains to be done than to 
maintain the present state of completeness in its appointments. 

Under this head of protection against the elements, may be 
justly included the preservation of our harbor from the effects of 
waves and tempests. By the vigilance and successive applica- 
tion of the city government, the protection of the two great 
islands, on which depend the safety of om* internal and external 
roadsteads, has been undertaken by the General Government; 
and works are finished, or in progress, of a magnitude and 
strength exceeding all antecedent hope or expectation. 
23 



266 MUNICIPAL rnSTORY. 

In relation to what has hccn done in favor of general health, 
when this administi-ation came into power, of the two great 
branches on which depend the health of a city, the removal of 
street du-t, and of that which accumulates in and about the 
houses of private families, the former was almost entirely neg- 
lected, and the latter was conducted in a manner exceed- 
ingly offensive to the citizens. So great was the clamor and 
urgency of the citizens, and so imperious was deemed the duty, 
that the records of the Mayor and Aldermen will show that the 
present executive, on the first day of his office, indeed before he 
had been inducted into it an hour, made a recommendation to 
the City Council on the subject. From that time to the present, 
the arrangement of those subjects has been an object of inces- 
sant attention and labor. It was, until early in the present year, 
a subject of perpetual struggle and controversy, — first, with the 
old Board of Health, who claimed the jurisdiction of it ; then 
with contractors, whose interests the new arrangements thwart- 
ed ; then with the citizens, with whose habits, or prejudices, or 
interest they sometimes interfered. The inhabitants of the 
country were indignant that they could not enjoy their ancient 
privilege of carrying away the street dirt when they pleased, 
and the offal of families as they pleased. The inhabitants of 
the city, forgetting the nature of the material, and the necessity 
of its being subjected to general regulations, were also indignant, 
because they "could not, as they did formerly, do what they 
would with their own." For three years the right of the city to 
control this subject was contested in courts of law ; and it was 
not until last April, that the city authority overcame all opposi- 
tion, and acquired, by a judicial decision, complete jurisdiction 
in the case. 

Since that time, the satisfaction of the citizens with the con- 
duct of this troublesome concern, indicated not only by direct 
acknowledgment, but also by evidence still more unequivocal, 
has equalled every reasonable wish, and exceeded all previous 
anticipation. I state as a fact, that in a city containing probably 
sixty-five thousand inhabitants, and under an administration 
inviting and soliciting complaints against its agents, — during 
seven months, from May to November, both inclusive, amidst a 
hot season, in which a local alarm of infectious fever naturally 
excited great anxiety, concerning the causes tending to produce 



CITY GOVERN^IENT. 267 

it, — the whole number of complaints from citizens, whose fami- 
lies were neglected by the agents of the city, made, or known to 
the Mayor or to any officers of the city, amounted only to the 
number of eig'ht iti a months or tivu in a ivcek, for the whole city I 
and four fifths of these, it is asserted by the intelligent and faith- 
ful superintendent of the streets, were owing to the faults of 
domestics rather than to his agents, — a degree of efficient action 
on a most difficult subject, which it is the interest of the citizens 
never to forget, as it shows what may be done, and, therefore, 
what they have a right to require. 

I refer to this topic with the more distinctness, because it is 
one of vital interest, not only to this, but to all populous cities. 
I know not that the practicability of establishing an efficient 
system for the removal from populous cities of these common 
and unavoidable nuisances has anywhere been more satisfacto- 
rily put to the test. Nor has the evidence of the direct eflects 
of such efficiency, upon the general health of the population, 
been anywhere more distinctly exhibited by facts. I speak 
before citizens who have enjoyed the benefits of these arrange- 
ments ; who now enjoy them; who see what can be effected; 
and what is reasonable, therefore, for them in this respect to 
claim at the hands of their public agents. 

I cannot close this head without referring to the tables con- 
nected with, and the facts stated in, the address I had the 
honor to make to the City Council at the commencement of 
the present year. 

It is there stated that the city authorities commenced a system- 
atic cleansing of the city, and removal of noxious animal and 
vegetable substances, with reference to the improvement of the 
general health and comfort, in the year 1823. 

" That the bills of mortality of this city, and calculations 
made on them for the eleven years, from 1813 to 1823 inclusive, 
show that the annual average proportion of deaths to the popu- 
lation was about one m forty-two P 

" Similar estimates on the bills of mortality of this city, since 
1823, show that this annual average proportion was, for the four 
years, from 1824 to 1827 inclusive, less than one in ft fly ; for the 
two years, from 1826 to 1827 inclusive, less than one in ffty- 
fiveP 

It now appears, that, on the principles stated in these tables. 



26S MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

for the three years just terminated, 1826, 1827, 1828, the annual 
average proportion of deaths to population was less than one in 
fifty-seven. 

Upon the usual estimates of this nature, a city of equal popu- 
lation, in which this annual average should not exceed one in 
forttj-scven, would be considered as enjoying an extraordinary 
degree of health. 

From the facts thus stated, it is maintained that this city 
does enjoy an uncommon and gradually increasing state of 
general health ; and that for the four last years it has been 
unexampled. And although the whole of this important im- 
provement in the general health of the city is not attributed to 
the measures of the police, yet since, in the year 1823, a system 
was adopted expressly for the purpose of preventing disease, by 
an efficient and timely removal of nuisances, it is just and rea- 
sonable to claim for that system a portion of the credit for that 
freedom from disease, which, subsequently to their adoption, 
has resulted in a degree so extraordinary. 

The residue of what was then said upon this topic, I repeat, 
as being important enough to be reiterated, 

"I am thus distinct in alluding to this subject, because the 
removal of the nuisances of a city is a laborious, difficult, and 
repulsive service, requiring much previous arrangement and con- 
stant vigilance, and is attended with frequent disappointment 
of endeavors, whence it happens there is a perpetual natural 
tendency in those intrusted with municipal afll'airs, to throw the 
trouble and responsibility of it upon subordinate agents and 
contractors ; and very plausible arguments of economy may be 
adduced in favor of such a system. But if experience and reflec- 
tion have given certainty to my mind upon any subject, it is 
upon this ; that upon the right conduct of this branch of the 
police, the executive powers of a city should be made directly 
responsible, more than for any other ; and that it can never, for 
any great length of time, be executed well, except by agents 
under its immediate control ; and whose labors it may command 
at all times, in any way which the necessities, continually vary- 
ing, and often impossible to be anticipated, of a city, in this 
respect require." 

" In the whole sphere of municipal duties, there are none 
more important than those which relate to the removal of those 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 269 

substances whose exhalations injuriously affect the air. A pure 
atmosphere is to a city what a good conscience is to an indivi- 
dual, — a perpetual source of comfort, tranciuillity, and self- 
respect." 

In relation to what has been done for the support of public 
education, considering the multiplied and pressing objects of 
attention, necessarily occurring in the first years of a new organ- 
ization of government, I know not that a greater degree of sup- 
port of this branch of public service could have been justly given 
or reasonably expected than has occurred. Under our ancient 
institutions, the scale of appropriations for this object was, of all 
others, the most liberal and complete. It was found, in 1823, 
with an annual expenditure of forty-four thousand five hundred 
dollars. It is left, at this day, with one of fifty-six thousand 
dollars. In the interval, two schoolhouses have been built and 
sites purchased at an additional direct expenditure of upwards 
of fifty-five thousand dollars. In addition to which the House 
of Reformation of Juvenile Offenders, which is, in fact, a school 
of most important character, has been established and supported 
at an expense akeady incurred of upwards of sixteen thousand 
dollars. 

But the High School for Girls has been suspended. As, on 
this topic, I have reason to thinic very gross misrepresentations 
and falsehoods have been circulated in every form of the tongue 
and the press, I shall speak plainly. It being in fact a subject 
on which my opinion has at no time been concealed. 

This school was adopted declaredly as " an experiment." It 
was placed under the immediate care of its known authors. It 
may be truly said that its impracticability was proved before it 
went into operation. The pressure for admission at the first 
examination of candidates, the discontent of the parents of those 
rejected, the certainty of far greater pressure and discontent 
which must occur in future years, satisfied every reflecting 
mind that, however desirable the scheme of giving a high classi- 
cal education, equal about to a college education, to all the girls 
of a city, whose parents would wish them to be thus educated 
at the expense of the city, was just as impracticable as to give 
such an one to all the boys of it at the city's expense. Indeed, 
more so, because girls not being drawn away from the college 
by preparation for a profession or trade, would have nothing 
23* 



270 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

except their marriage to prevent their parents from availing of it. 
No funds of any city could endure the expense. 

The next project was so to model the school as that, although 
professedly established for the benefit of all, it might be kept 
and maintained at the expense of the city for the benefit of the 
feuK The School Committee were divided equally on the 
resulting questions. The subject was finally postponed by the 
casting vote of the Chairman. As all agreed, that if the school 
was to be maintained according to its original conception, new 
and gi-eat appropriations were necessary, the Chairman was 
directed to make a report on the whole subject to the City 
Council. The r<>port indicated that, in such case, appropriations 
were indispensably necessary, but did not recommend them, 
because a majority of the Committee were not favorable to the 
project. That report was printed and circulated throughout the 
city. A year has elapsed, and not an individual in either branch 
of the City Council has brought forward the question of its revi- 
val by moving the necessary appropriations. 

No shield has ever before been jirotruded by the individual 
principally assailed as a defence against the calumnies which 
have been circulated on this subject. It has now been alluded 
to, more for the sake of other honorable men, who have, for a 
like cause, been assailed by evil tongues and evil pens, than for 
his own. 

In all this there is nothing uncommon or unprecedented. 
The public officer who, from a sense of public duty, dares to 
cross strong interests in their way to gratification at the public 
expense, always has had, and ever will have, meted to him the 
same measure. The beaten course is, first, to slander, in order 
to intimidate ; and if that fail, then to slander, in order to sacri- 
fice. He who loves his office better than his duty will yield and 
be flattered as long as he is . lool. He who loves his duty bet- 
ter than his office will stand erect and take his fate. 

All schools requiring high qualifications as the condition of 
admission, are essentially schools for the benefit, comparatively, 
of a very few. The higher the qualification, the greater the 
exclusion. Those whose fortunes permit them to avail them- 
selves of private instruction for their children, during their early 
years, — men highly educated themselves, who have leisure and 
ability to attend to the education of their own children, and thus 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 271 

raise them at the prescribed age to the required qualification, — 
will chiefly enjoy the privilege. To the rest of the community, 
consisting of parents not possessing these advantages, admission 
to them is a lottery, in which there is a hundred blanks to a 
prize. The scheme to reduce the school to an attendance of one 
year, seems to be a needless multiplication of schools and of 
expense ; as it is plainly far better that a year should be added 
to the continuance in the common schools, and theu* course of 
insti'uction proportionably elevated. 

. The great interest of society is identified with her common 
schools. These belong to the mass of the people. Let the peo- 
ple take care, lest the funds which ought to be devoted exclu- 
sively to the improvement and elevation of these common 
schools, thus essentially theirs, be diverted to schools of high 
qualification. Under w^hatever pretence established, their neces- 
sary tendency is to draw away, not only funds, but also interest 
and attention from the common schools. The sound jjrinciple 
upon this subject seems lo be, that the standard of public education 
should be raised to the g-reatest desirable and practicable height; 
but that it should be effected bij raising- the standard of the com- 
mon schools. 

In respect of what has been done, in support of public morals, 
when this administration first came into power, the police had 
no comjjarative effect. The city possessed no house of coitcc- 
tion, and the natural inmates of that establishment were in our 
streets, on our " hills " or on our commons, disgusting the deli- 
cate, offending the good, and intimidating the fearful. There 
were parts of the city over which no honest man dared to pass 
in the night time ; so proud there and uncontrolled was the 
dominion of crime. The executive of the city was seriously 
advised not to meddle with those haunts, their reformation being 
a task altogether impracticable. 

It was attempted. The success is known. Who at this day 
sees begging in our streets ? I speak generally ; a transient case 
may occur. But there is none systematic. At this day, I speak 
it confidently, there is no part of the city through which the 
most timid may not walk, by day or by night, without cause of 
fear of personal violence. What streets present more stillness in 
the night time ? W'here, in a city of equal population, are there 
fewer instances of those crimes to which all populous places are 
subject ? 



272 MUNICIPAL inSTORY. 

Doubtless much of this condition of things is owing to the 
orderly habits of our citizens, but much also is attributable to 
the vigilance which has made vice tremble in its haunts and fly 
to cities where the air is more congenial to it ; which, by pursu- 
ing the lawless vender of spirituous liquor, denying licenses to 
the worst of that class, or revoking them as soon as found in 
improper hands, has checked crime in its first stages, and intro- 
duced into these establishments a salutary fear. By the effect 
of this system, notwithstanding in these six years the population 
of the city has been increased at least fifteen thonscuid, the num-. 
ber of licensed houses has been diminished from six hundred 
and seventy-nine to five hundred and fifty-four. 

Let it be remembered that this state of things has been 
effected without the addition of one man to the ancient arm of 
the police. The name of police officer has indeed been changed 
to city marshal. The venerable old charter number of tiveniy- 
four constables still continue the entire array of city police ; and 
eighty watchmen, of whom never more than eighteen are out at 
a time, constitute the whole nocturnal host of police militant, to 
maintain the peace and vindicate the wrongs of upwards of sixty 
thousand citizens. 

If it be asked why more have not been provided, I answer, it 
has frequently been under consideration. But, on a view of all 
circumstances, and experience having hitherto proved the pre- 
sent number enough, there seemed no occasion to increase it, 
from any general theory of its want of proportion to the popula- 
tion, seeing that })ractically there seemed to be as many as were 
necessary. 

The good which has been attained, and no man can deny it 
is great, has been effected by directing unremittingly the force of 
the executive power to the haunts of vice in its first stages, and 
to the favorite resorts of crime in its last. 

To diminish the number of licensed dram-shops and tippling- 
houses ; to keep a vigilant eye over those which are licensed ; to 
revoke without fear or favor the licenses of those who were 
found violating the law ; to break up public dances in the 
brothels ; to keep the light and terrors of the law directed upon 
the resorts of the lawless, thereby preventing any place becoming 
dangerous by their congregation ; or they and their associates 
becoming insolent through sense of strength and numbers ; — 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 273 

thepe have been the means ; and these means, faithfnily applied, 
are better than armies of constables and watehmen. They have 
been applied with as much fearlessness as though the exeentive 
office was not elective ; without regarding the fact, that the 
numerous class thus offended, their landlords, dependants, and 
coadjutors, had votes and voices in city elections. So far as 
these classes had any influence on a recent event, and it must 
have been small, the cause is not a matter of regret, but of 
pride. 

Without pressing these topics further into detail, and without 
stating how the condition of things was found at i}\e coming in 
of this administration, — because the faithful men who executed 
the ancient town government did as much as the form of organ- 
ization under which they acted permitted, — I shall simply state, 
in one view, how the city affairs, in respects not yet alluded to, 
have been left. 

Every interest of the city, so far as has come to the know- 
ledge of the city government, has been considered, maintained, 
and, as far as practicable, arranged. All the real estate of the 
city surveyed and estimated ; plans of it prepared ; the whole 
analyzed and presented in one view for the benefit of those who 
come after. The difficulties of the voting lists laboriously inves- 
tigated, and the sources of error ascertained, and in a gi-eat degree 
remedied. The streets widened, the crooked straightened, the 
great avenues paved and enlarged. They and other public 
places ornamented. Heights levelled. Declivities smoothed or 
diminished. The common sewers regulated and made more 
capacious. New streets of great width and utility, in the cen- 
tre of population, obtained without cost to the city. Its mar- 
kets made commodious. New public edifices, in the old city 
and at South Boston, erected ; the old repaired and orna- 
mented. 

These things have been done, not indeed to the extent which 
might be desired, but to a degree as great, considering the time, 
as could reasonably be anticipated. 

But then, — "the city debt," "the taxes," — "we are on the 
eve of bankruptcy." " The citizens are oppressed by the weight 
of assessments produced by these burdens." Such are the hol- 
low sounds which come up from the halls of caucusing discon- 
tent! 



274 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

The state of the city debt has recently been displayed by offi- 
cial authority ; by which it appears, that, after deducting funds 
in the hands of the Committee for the reduction of the city debt, 
and also the amount of bonds, well secured by mortgages, paya- 
ble to the city, the exact city debt amounts to ^637,256.66 ; 
concerning which subject, I undertake to maintain two posi- 
tions : — 

1st. It has not been, and never can be, a burden ; that is, it 
has not been, and never will be, felt in the taxes. 

2d. So far from city bankruptcy, the state of its resources is 
one of enviable prosperity. 

It may be stated, with sufficient accuracy, that the present 
city debt is entirely the result of operations which obtained for 
the city the New Faneuil Hall Market, the City Wharf, and 
land north of the block of stores on North Market Street ; and 
of those which gave it, free of incumbrance, the lands west of 
Charles and Pleasant Streets. 

Now, this property iJiiis newly acquired by these operations, 
for which the city debt was incurred, may be exchanged, no 
intelligent man can doubt, at any hour, in the market, for an 
amount equal to the entire city debt. 

The property thus acquired, now in actual, unincumbered, 
undisputed possession of the city, consists, — 

1. Of the New Market and its site, estimated by its annual 
incomes, (^26,000,) which are in their nature permanent, and 
must increase rather than diminish, at . . $500,000 

2. City Wharf, estimated by some at $100,000 ; on 

this occasion it is put down at ... 75,000 

3. Eight thousand five hundred and twenty-eight 
feet of land on both sides of the Mill Creek, and 
the new streets now completing in that vicinity; 
on this occasion estimated at, as an unquestion- 
able price, although its real value probably greatly 

exceeds 12,000 

4. Twenty-eight acres and a half of land west of 
Charles and Pleasant Streets, exceeding 1,200,000 
square feet, estimated only at ten cents ; which, 
how far it is exceeded by the fact, my fellow-citi- 
zens understand, is set down at . . . 120,000 

$707,000 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 275 

Thus it appears the city is possessed of a real estate, of an 
unquestionable value, exceeding seven hundred thousand dollars^ as 
an offset for a debt oisix hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars. 
It may confidently be said, that no capitalist of intelligence 
and resom-ces, equal to the purchase, would hesitate an hour to 
contract, on condition of a transfer of that property, to assume 
the whole city debt. Should I say, he would give a hundred 
thousand dollars as a bonus for the bargain, I should probably 
come nearer the truth. Am I not justified, then, in my position, 
that the marketable value of the real estate acquired and left to 
the city by that administration, greatly exceeds the amount of 
debt it has left ? The scales are not simply even ; they greatly 
preponderate in favor of the value of the property above the 
debt. It is no answer to this, to say, that the property thus 
neivly acquired is of a nature or value so important to the city, 
that it ought never to be disposed of. This is probably true ; 
at least of a very great part of it. But what of this ? Does not 
the fact show, that greatly as the marketable value of the pro- 
perty exceeds the debt, the value of it, in its interest or import- 
ance to the city, greatly exceeds even that marketable value? 
After this, have I not a right to assert, according to the usual 
and justifiable forms of expression, under circumstances of this 
kind, that, so far as respects the operations of the administration, 
noiv passing- avjay, they have left the city incumhered with no 
DEBT ; because they have left it possessed of a newly acquired 
real property, far greater in marketable value than the whole 
debt it has incurred ? 

Again, it has not only done this ; but when this subject is 
considered with reference to annual income received, and annual 
interest to be paid, it will be found that this administration 
leaves the city with a property, in real estate and bonds and 
mortgages, the income and interest of which amounts \o fifty- 
two thousand dollars, while the annual interest of the debt which 
it leaves is only forty-seven thousand dollars. 

If, then, the annual income of the property left be now, and 
ever must be, far greater than the annual interest of the debt 
incun-ed ; if the newly acquired real estate is, and always must 
be, far greater in marketable value than the whole amount of 
that debt, has not this administration a right to say, that, so far 
as respects its financial operations^ it has left the city incumbered 

IVith NO BURDEN AND NO DEBT. 



276 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

If there is no debt, then there is no bankruptcy. Whatever 
estate the city now has, over and above that which is above 
specified, is so much clear and unincumbered property, to be 
used or improved for its advancement or relief in all future times 
and emergencies, according to the wisdom and fidelity of suc- 
ceeding administrations. Unless, indeed, that wisdom direct, as 
it probal^ly will, that the property above specified, obtained for 
the city by this administration, shall be kept as the best possible 
investment of city capital, and the proceeds of the other lands 
applied to the discharge of the debt incurred for the pmx-hase of 
the property thus acquired. 

Now, what is that clear, unincumbered city property which 
remains, after deducting that thus newly acquired? It consists 
of nothing less, as appears by the official report of the Commit- 
tee on Public Lands, than upwards oi Jive million three hundred 
thousand feet of land on the Neck and in different parts of the 
city, — capable of being sold, without any possible objection ; — 
lands belonging to the House of Industry, amounting to sixty 
acres ; and a township of land in the state of JNIaine, being 
neither of them included in this estimate. 

Without taking into consideration, then, the encouragement 
given to our mechanic interests ; to the influx of capital and 
population, which have been necessarily the effect of the activity 
of capital induced by the measures of the city government ; and 
confining myself to the single consideration of the amount and 
unincumbered state of the real property of the city, am I not 
justified in the assertion, that it is, in respect of its financial 

RESOURCES, ONE OF ENVIABLE PROSPERITY ? 

But " the taxes," " the taxes " are heavy beyond all prece- 
dent! In answer to which, I state, that the taxes have not 
increased in a ratio equal to the actual increase of property and 
2')opuJalion. The Assessors' books will show, that the ratio of 
taxation has been less in every year of the seven years in which 
the city government has had existence, than was the ratio of any 
year in the next preceding seven years of the town government, 
one year only excepted ; and even in this it was less than in one 
of those next preceding seven years above-mentioned. Compar- 
ing the average of the ratios of these two periods of seven years 
together, it will be found, that while the average of the ratios of 
these seven years of the town government was eight dollars and 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 277 

fifteen cents, the average of the ratios of the seven years of the 
city government has been only seven dollars and tiventij-scven 
cents. 

I might here close. But there have been objections made 
publicly to this executive, which, although apparently of a per- 
sonal nature, are, in fact, objections to the principles on which 
he has conducted his office. Now, in the particular relation in 
which that executive stood to his office, it was his duty well to 
consider those principles, since they might become precedents, 
and give a character and tone to succeeding administi'ations. 
He has uniformly acted under a sense of this relation, and of the 
obligations resulting from it ; and intentionally has done nothing, 
or omitted nothing, without contemplating it. . On this account, 
it may be useful to state those objections, and answer them. 
And first, it has been said, " The Mayor assumes too much upon 
himself. He places himself at the head of all committees. He 
prepares all reports. He permits nothing to be done but by his 
agency. He does not sit solemn and dignified in his chair, and 
leave general superintendence to others ; but he is every^vhere, 
and about every thing, — in the street ; at the docks ; among 
the common sewers ; — no place but what is vexed by his pre- 
sence." 

In reply to this objection, I lay my hand first on the city char- 
ter, which is in these words : — " It shall be the duty of the 
Mayor to be vigilant and active at all times, in causing the laws 
for the government of said city to be duly executed and put in 
force ; to inspect the conduct of all subordinate officers, in the 
government thereof, and, as far as in his power, to cause all 
negligence, carelessness, and positive violations of duty to be 
duly prosecuted and punished. It shall be his duty, from time 
to time, to communicate to both branches of the City Council 
all such information, and recommend all such measures as may 
tend to the improvement of the finances, the police, health, 
cleanliness, comfort, and ornament of the city." 

Now let it be remembered, that to the performance of these 
duties he was sworn ; and that he is willing to admit that he 
considers an oath taken before God as a serious affair ; and that 
having taken an oath to do such services, he is not of a spirit 
which can go to sleep or to rest after shifting the performance 
of them upon others. 

24 



278 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

As to his " seeing to every thing," who has a better right than 
he, who, at least by popular opinion, if not by the city charter, 
is made responsible for every thing ? 

Besides, why is it not as tiaie, in affairs of police as of agii- 
culture, that " the eye of the master does more work than both 
his hands." 

If those who made these objections intended " by doing every 
thing," that he has been obstinate, wilful, or overbearing in 
respect of those with whom he has been associated, I cheerfully 
appeal to you, gentlemen, how willingly, on all occasions, he 
has yielded his opinion to yours ; and how readily he has sub- 
mitted whatever he has A^a-itten to your corrections. If he took 
upon himself generally the character of draughtsman of reports, 
it was because your labors were gratuitous, and for his a salary 
was received. It was because he deemed it but just, that the 
" hireling " should bear the heat and burden, both of the day 
and the labor. 

Great assiduity and labor did appear to him essential requi- 
sites to the well performance of duty in that office. He could 
not persuade himself that the intelligent and industrious com- 
munity which possess this metropolis could ever be satisfied in 
that station with an indolent, selfish, or timid temper, or with 
any one possessed of a vulgar and criminal ambition. 

I cannot refrain, on the present occasion, from expressing the 
happiness with which I now yield this place to a gentleman^ 
possessing so many eminent qualifications ; whose talents will 
enable him to appreciate so readily the actual state of things ; 
who will be so capable of correcting what has been amiss ; 
changing what has been WTong ; and of maintaining what has 
been right. May he be happy I and long enjoy the honors and 
the confidence his fellow-citizens have bestowed ! 

And now, gentlemen, standing as I do in this relation for the 
last time, in your presence and that of my fellow-citizens, — 
about to surrender forever a station full of difficulty, of labor, 
and temptation, in which I have been called to very arduous 
duties, affecting the rights, property, and at times, the Hberty of 
others, concerning which, the perfect line of rectitude, though 
desired, was not always to be clearly discerned, — in which great 

^ Harrison Graj" Otis. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 279 

interests have been placed within my control, under circumstan- 
ces in which it would have been easy to advance private ends 
and sinister projects ; under these circumstances, I inquire, as I 
have a right to inquire, — for, in the course of the recent contest, 
insinuations have been cast against my integrity, in this long 
management of yom- affairs, whatever en-ors have been commit- 
ted, and, doubtless, there have been many, — have you found in 
me any thing selfish, any thing personal, any thing mercenary? 

In the simple language of an ancient seer, I say, " Behold, 
here I am. Witness against me. Whom have I defrauded ? 
Whom have I oppressed ? At whose hands have I received any 
bribe ? " 

Six years ago, when I had the honor first to address the City 
Council, in anticipation of the event which has now occurred, 
the following expressions were used: — "In administering the 
police, in executing the laws, in protecting the riglits and pro- 
moting the prosperity of the city, its fu'st officer will be necessa- 
rily beset and assailed by individual interests ; by rival projects ; 
by personal influences ; by party passions. The more firm and 
inflexible he is in maintaining the rights and in pursuing the 
interests of the city, the greater is the probability of his becom- 
ing obnoxious to the censure of all whom he causes to be prose- 
cuted or punished ; of all whose passions he thwarts ; of all 
whose interests he opposes." 

The day and the event have come. I retire, — as in that first 
address I told my fellow-citizens, "if, in conformity with the 
experience of other republics, faithful exertions should be fol- 
lowed by loss of favor and confidence," I should retire, — "rejoic- 
ing, not indeed with a public and patriotic, but with a private 
and individual joy ; for I shall retire with a consciousness, 
w^eighed against which all human suffrages are but as the light 
dust of the balance." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1829. 

IIakkison Gray Otis, Mayor.^ 

Circumstances recalling the INIayor fi'om Private Life — Tribute to his Prede- 
cessors — Views concerning the City Debt — On the Supply of Pure Water — 
The Importance of Eailroads — Political Relations of the State and Union — 
Flats to the Eastward of the New JNIarket — Attempts to authorize Inspectors 
to place Names on the Voting Lists — Tribute to the Directors of the House 
of Industry — Chief Engineer of the Fire Department appointed — Resigna- 
tion of all the Assistant Engineers — Petitions to extend Wharves to the 
Channel —Relief to Sufferers by Fire in Georgia — Petitions for a General 
Meeting of Citizens on Railroads, and for a Grant of Land for their Accom- 
modation. 

On the fifth of January, 1829, the organization of the city 
government was this year transferred from the chamber of the 
Common Council to Faneuil Hall ; it being the era of a new 
administration of its affairs. After the usual solemnities, the 
Mayor delivered, in the presence of a large assembly of citizens 
collected on the occasion, the following inaugural address : — 

GENTLEMEN OF THE CITY COUNCIL: 

Nothing coidd be more unexpected by me than the circum- 
stances by the result of which I find myself in this place. After 
nearly thirty years of occupation in public affairs, with but short 
intermissions, I resigned my seat in the National Legislature 
with an intense desire, and, as I thought, unalterable purpose of 
passing the few years that might remain for me, in a private sta- 
tion. The objects for which I became a humble actor in the 
political scene were attained. The tempest which uprooted the 

I The whole number of votes cast were 4,546, of which Mr. Otis received 
2,977. 

The Aldermen were, — Henry J. Oliver, John T. Loring, Samuel T. Ann- 
strong, Benjamin Russell, Thomas Kendall, James Hall, Wiuslow Lewis, and 
Charfes Wells. Eliphalet Williams was President of the Common Council. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 281 

institutions of the Old World had subsided. The broils which 
had agitated and endangered our own country, and kept the 
minds of all who took part in them in a state of discomfort were 
extinguished. The constitution was preserved, the government 
wise, and the people happy. Opportunity had been afforded of 
supporting, by my feeble aid, an administration which, under a 
different aspect of affairs, I had opposed. The public favor and 
confidence, both in measure and duration, had exceeded my esti- 
mate of my own pretensions ; and though it was not to be dis- 
sembled that this favor was in the wane, I carried into retkemcnt 
the consolation that if my services had not been valuable, neither 
had they been expensive to my country ; as I had never sought nor 
lingered long in any office of emolument. And I indulged the 
hope that, having done nothing to forfeit the approbation of my 
friends, the rigorous judgment formed of my conduct by those from 
whose political system I had formerly the misfortune to dissent, 
would not follow me beyond the tomb, and that the candid and 
charitable portion of them would not finally withhold from my 
motives and intentions the justice which I have never been con- 
sciously backward to render to theus. From this retirement I 
have been called by my fellow-citizens for a short season, under 
ckcumstances which make it a duty to obey their will. Their 
invitation was the more grateful as it was spontaneous. And 
great indeed will be my gratification, if, by cooperating with 
you, I shall be considered as having, in any reasonable measure, 
requited a demonstration of good-will from my fellow-citizens so 
flattering and honorable to me. 

It is now my province, and it will soon become my duty to 
communicate to you such information as may be requisite, and 
to recommend such measures as may seem to be conducive to 
the best interest of our city. But I stand merely upon the thresh- 
old of an office, with the interior of which most of you are 
more familiar than myself. I can touch only upon general 
topics, assuring you, however, that I will apply my entire time 
and attention to master the business of this department, and to 
apprise you of such details as you have a right to expect. And 
the utmost exertion of my faculties shall not be wanting in con- 
stant and united effort to cherish and extend the prosperity of 
the interesting concerns committed to our charge. It is indeed 
fortunate for us all, that the administration of this department 
24* 



MUMCIPAL HISTORY. 

has hitherto been conducted under the auspices of those, whose 
different quahfications were eminently adapted to the varying 
exigencies of the station which they successively occupied. The 
novel experiment of city government was commenced by your 
first lamented Mayor with the circumspection and delicacy which 
belonged to his character, and which were entirely judicious and 
opportune. He felt and respected the force of ancient and 
honest prejudices. His aim was to allure, not to compel ; to 
reconcile by gentle reform, not to revolt by startling innovation ; 
so that while he led us into a new and fairer creation, we felt 
ourselves surrounded by the scenes and comforts of home. His 
successor entered upon othce with the characteristic energy of 
his distinguished talents. He felt that the hour had arrived for 
more radical reformation, and that the minds of the citizens were 
ripe for gi-eater change and more permanent improvements, and 
he devoted an assiduity that can never be surpassed, to a deve- 
lopment and application of the resom-ces of the city, which have 
materially contributed to its ornament, comfort, health, accom- 
modation, and in all respects lasting advantage. We are sur- 
rounded on all sides with the monuments of this enterprising, 
disinterested ;^eal. But they could not be consummated without 
expense. This affords to some a serious siibject of speculation 
on the future, and to others of complaint. But, after such cur- 
sory examination of the state of our finances, as time and oppor- 
tunity have enabled me to make, since I found it to be a duty, I 
perceive indeed the necessity of strict economy, but no just 
cause for uneasiness or complaint. Documents just made pub- 
lic, show the outstanding, funded debt (after deducting the 
amount of good and convertible securities) is about six hunched 
and thirty-seven thousand dollars. For the gradual extinguish- 
ment of this debt, provision is made by standing regulations, 
appropriating fifteen thousand dollars annually from the city 
tax ; the balances in the treasury at the end of the year, moneys 
arising from the sales of real estate, and payments made on 
account of the principal of bonds and notes. This process may 
be accelerated at your pleasure, by providing for a more rapid 
sale of the city lands. A subject on which I will be better pre- 
pared than I am at this moment to give an opinion. The appro- 
priation for the expense of the current financial year, which 
begins in May, was three hundred and twenty-eight thousand, 



CITY GOVERlS^IENT. 283 

six hundred and twenty-five dollars, of which the assessed taxes 
constitute an amount of two hundred and thirty-five thousand 
dollars. It is not perceived, at present, that this sum can be 
diminished. But while unceasing attention is due to the devis- 
ing of ways and means for alleviating taxes, there is encourage- 
ment to presume, that if this cannot be effected by lessening the 
nominal amount, an increasing population and resources, by 
bringing to the support of the burden a greater contribution of 
strength, will diminish its pressure on the individual. 

In relation to the debt itself, it should be remembered that we 
retain, in a gi-eat measure at least, the value received. Our 
money has not evaporated in airy speculations, or been lavished 
in corrupt expenditures. Works of permanent utility have been 
established. The Market House, House of Industry, Prison, 
Schools, and other substantial monuments have been erected. 
Om- crooked paths have been made strait, and widened, and 
new avenues have been opened. The benefit of these and of 
some other improvements will extend to many generations yet 
to come, and those which immediately succeed should be con- 
tent to share a fair apportionment of the equivalent paid, should 
it be necessary or convenient to procrastinate a total redemption 
of the debt. It is possible that the scale on which some of these 
improvements were projected is somewhat in anticipation of 
future exigencies. But it is doubtful whether great plans, with- 
out this ingi-edient, would deserve to be regarded as improve- 
ments, supposing the city destined to advance in prosperity. On 
the other supposition, no great plan would, in fact, be an 
improvement, for none such should be undertaken. If a market 
would barely accommodate those who resort to it this year, 
inconvenience would arise the next year. The same remark is 
applicable to school houses, streets, and, in a degree, to all pub- 
lic buildings. We must proceed (certainly with discretion) on 
the presumption that population and wealth have not come to 
a stand ; and if none of us would now be ready to surrender 
these appendages in retm'n for the price of the purchase, that 
consideration should go far towards reconciling us to the condi- 
tions on which we have obtained them. 

From the great improvements which were requned by the 
necessities of the city, two inconveniences have arisen which 
were unavoidable, and will, it is believed, be temporary. First, 



284 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

a sudden transfer of value from some parts of the city to others, 
by which the proprietors of old estates have been injured, while, 
by the increase of accommodation beyond the demand, the pur- 
chasers of the new have failed to realize the fair profits of their 
investments. Secondly, the city became a purchaser of lands to 
sell again, and thus far a competitor with individuals in private 
enterprise. Probably, therefore, the time has come when pru- 
dence may recommend a pause from gi-eat and expensive 
attempts, and it may be incumbent on us who are intrusted 
with this year's administration, to look rather to the preserva- 
tion and completion of what has been finished or commenced, 
than to new midertakings. There is, however, wanting to the 
city a convenience of which, it is ventm-ed to assert, it should 
never lose sight, — an abundant supply of wholesome water. 
The object has been placed before the City Council on a former 
occasion by my predecessor in striking relief ; and I am free to 
avow my conviction of the correctness of the views by him 
exhibited in relation to it. 

Another object, however, is lately brought into view by the 
spirit of the age we five in, the importance of which, if within 
the reach of the city, it would not be easy to exaggerate, — a 
communication with the country by railway. This city, from its 
earliest foundation, has been advancing in a regular progression 
of populousness and wealth. And though, in both these respects, 
it has not kept pace with other cities, yet the population has 
increased in a ratio sufficiently indicative of its prosperous tend- 
encies, and wealth continues to bear a gi-eater proportion to 
population than is perhaps elsewhere to be seen. So long as 
these advantages shall continue, the gi'owth of o'" sister cities 
will furnish no cause of envy or regret. The time which has 
elapsed since the ti-eaty of Ghent, enables us to form a suffi- 
ciently correct estimate of the probable operation of cu'cura- 
stances on the interests of this city in any other period of peace 
of the same duration. We have experienced all the vicissitudes 
of business which arise from a transition from war to peace, and 
the efforts made by commerce, both external and internal, to 
adjust themselves to new positions, and to surmount the embar- 
rassments and consequences inseparable from such change. 
Among these, may be reckoned the fluctuation of trade with 
foreign countries, the perplexities gi-owing out of their commer- 



CITY GOVEKKMENT. 285 

cial regulations, and, on the whole, its sensible diminution. 
The effects of excessive exports and imports ; the occasional 
drains and refluxes of specie ; the corresponding increase of the 
coasting trade; the alternation of scarcity and surplus in the 
money market, by the operation of the banking system ; the rise 
and progress of the manufacturing interests, and the variations 
in the employment afforded to the middUng and laboring classes 
of our feUovi^-citizens. The result of these mutations proves the 
condition of our city to be sound and vigorous. Great fortunes 
are no longer accumulated ; but judicious enterprise and honest 
industry are generally rewarded by competent gain. The me- 
chanic is employed, and the laborer receives his hire. This state 
of things demands our highest gratitude to the Giver of all good, 
and justifies the inference, that if we can maintain our natural 
resources and connections, we shall find no cause for despond- 
ence. But it is not to be disguised, that these connections are 
menaced with interruptions and diversions, requiring exertion 
and vigilance to obviate their effects. All parts of the Union 
but New England are alive to the importance of estabhshing 
and perfecting the means of communication by land and water. 
The magic of raising states and cities in our country to sudden 
greatness, seems mainly to consist in the instituting of canals 
and railroads. The choice, therefore, is not left to us of reaping 
the fruits of our natural resources, and from abstaining from all 
part in these enterprises. The state and city must be up and 
doing, or the streams of our prosperity wiU seek new channels. 
We must preserve our intercommunication with each other 
and with oin: sister States by the methods which they adopt, or 
we shall be left insulated. Our planet cannot stand stUl, but 
may go backward without a miracle. The question will arise, 
and we must prepare to meet it, not whether raihoads are sub- 
jects of lucrative speculation, but whether they be not indispen- 
sable to save this State and city from insignificance and decay. 
It would be quite premature to enlarge in a dissertation on par- 
ticulars connected with this subject. Unless the surveys and 
calculation of skilful persons employed in this business are falla- 
cious, there is no doubt that a railroad from this city to the 
Hudson may be made with no greater elevation in any part 
than is found between the head of Long Wharf and the Old 
State House ; and that the income would pay the interest of 



286 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the capital employed. Reports and documents from commis- 
sioners appointed by the Legislatm-e, may, it is believed, be 
expected at an early day. Should they be as favorable as is 
anticipated, to the practicability of the undertaking, they will 
present to our citizens and to us materials for more grave consi- 
deration than can arise from any other subject. I will not trust 
myself to express the joy I should feel in ascertaining that the 
undertaking is )iot only feasible, but within the compass of the 
resources of the State or city, or of enterprising individuals, or 
of all united, and that they would be so applied. These feel- 
ings, however, will never, I trust, stimulate me to recommend 
measures that shall not have undergone and been found equal to 
sustain the closest scrutiny. It is now intended, merely by 
general allusion, to invite you to turn your thoughts to the sub- 
ject, and to familiarize yourselves to reflect upon the probable (I 
may say) certain effects of a communication which, by connect- 
ing this city with the Hudson, would open a market to the 
regions beyond it, and be realized in then- immediate influence 
in every house, wharf, store, and workshop. Nor would the con- 
sequences be less propitious to the country through which it 
would pass ; converting its wastes into villages, its forests into 
fields, its fields into gardens, and the timber and granite of its 
mountains into gold. While, on the one side, public attention 
will be attracted towards facilitating intercourse by land, great 
advantages would result on the other, from an extended plan of 
steam navigation to Maine and to the British Provinces and to 
the Island of Nantucket. The apathy hitherto prevailing, in 
relation to this scheme, is unaccountable. But as the success of 
it can be expected only from individual enterprise, it is men- 
tioned merely for the sake of respectfully commending it to the 
patronage of your separate opinions and influence out of doors. 

Gentlemen, I will now bespeak your indulgence for a few 
moments upon a matter which, though not directly appertaining 
to the municipal sphere, may not, when candidly weighed, be 
regarded as misplaced and unseasonable on this occasion. It is 
quite apparent to all our feflow-citizens, that the honor of the 
chair which I now occupy, is not the fruit of any party struggle. 
With the friends of former days, whose constancy can never be 
forgotten, others have been pleased to unite (and to honor me 
with their suffrages) who hold in high disapprobation the part I 



CITY go\t:rkment. 287 

formerly took in political affairs. Their support of me on this 
occasion is no symptom of a change of their sentiments in that 
particular. I presume not to infer from it even a mitigation 
of the rigor with which my public conduct has been judged. 
But it is not presumptuous to take it for granted, that those 
v/ho have favored me with their countenance on this occasion, 
confide in my sense of the obligation of veracity, and of the 
aggravated profligacy that would attend a violation of it, stand- 
ing here in the presence of God and my country. On this faith, 
I feel myself justified by circumstances to avail myself of this 
occasion, the first, and probably the last, so appropriate, that will 
be in my power, distinctly and solemnly to assert, that, at no 
time in the course of my life, have I been present at any meet- 
ing of individuals, public or private, of the many or the few, or 
privy to correspondence, of whatever description, in which any 
proposition, having for its object the dissolution of the Union, or 
its dismemberment in any shape, or a separate confederacy, or a 
forcible resistance to the government or laws, was ever made or 
debated ; that I have no reason to believe, that any such scheme 
was ever meditated by distinguished individuals of the old fede- 
ral party. 

But, on the other hand, every reason which habits of intimacy 
and communion of sentiments with most of them afforded, for 
the persuasion that they looked to the remote possibility of such 
events as the most to be deprecated of all calamities, and that 
they would have received any serious proposal, calculated for 
those ends, as a paroxysm of political delirium. This statement 
will bear internal evidence of truth to all who reflect that among 
those men were some by the firesides of whose ancestors the 
principles of the Union and independence of these States were 
first asserted and digested ; from which was taken the coal that 
kindled the hallowed flame of the Revolution ; from whose ashes 
the American eagle rose into life. Others who had conducted 
the measures and the armies of that Revolution, — Solomons in 
council, and Samsons in combat. Others who assisted at the 
birth of the federal constitution, and watched over its infancy 
with paternal anxiety. And I may add, to the best of my 
knowledge and belief, that all of them regarded its safety and 
success as the best hope of this people, and the last hope of the 
friends of liberty throughout the world. Are treasonable, or dis- 



288 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

loyal plots or purposes, consistent with these relations ? It 
would seem to be hardly conceivable ; yet it is possible. The 
lost archangels caballed and revolted against the government of 
heaven ; favorites, rioting in the sunshine of royal favor, have 
turned traitors to their king ; and republicans, sickening with the 
higher glory of the love and confidence of the people, have enslaved 
them to factions and sold them to tyrants. Such foul conspira- 
cies may have been in our time. But should they be credited 
without evidence proportioned to their probable enormity ? with- 
out doings as well as sayings ? without any evidence whatever ? 
Secret cabals and plots are the constant theme of suspicion and 
accusation in times of political excitement ; and they can be dis- 
affirmed only by the simple negation of the parties accused, until 
the proofs are adduced. Ai'e unguarded slips of the tongue, or 
passionate invectives, proofs which ought to satisfy impartial 
minds ? Surely, it is not for the honor or prosperity of this city 
or of any party, that it should be stigmatized as the head-quar- 
ters, not of good principles, but of treasonable machinations. 
The discredit of the malaria once fixed would affect the reputa- 
tion of all. The distinction between leaders and led, so insult- 
ing to freemen who are supposed to come under the latter deno- 
mination, will not be recognized ; and if you are known to come 
from the infected district, those who hold their nostrils and 
avoid you will not stop to inquire, whether the plague were in 
yom' own family. 

I again express my hope, that these remarks will not be con- 
sidered ill-timed. They are a testimony offered in defence of the 
memory of the honored dead, and of patriotic survivors who 
have not the same opportunity of speaking for themselves. 
Their object is not personal favor, though I am free to admit, 
that I am not indifferent to the desire of removing doubts and 
giving satisfaction to the minds of any who, by a magnanimous 
pledge of kind feelings towards me, have a claim upon me for 
every candid explanation and assm-ance in my power to afford. 

Moreover, the harmony of our fellow-citizens may be promot- 
ed by a right understanding of these matters. The history of 
republican states and cities is soon told. Parties gi'ow up from 
honest ditferencc of opinion on the policy of measm-es. In pro- 
cess of time, the subject of controversy dies a natural death ; and 
if personal animosities could be bmied in the same grave all 
would be well. 



. CITY GOVERNMENT. 289 

In that event, the people Avould have a respite from party- 
struggle, and when new contests and dissensions should arise, 
they would again choose sides from principle, and take a new 
departure from each other, free from the fetters and irritation of 
former alliances. The virulent humors of the body politic would 
not collect in the old wounds, but be again dispersed and cured 
by the com'se of nature. But this happy termination of political 
strife, with its original causes, seems not to accord with experi- 
ence. The names and badges and attitude of parties are pre- 
served ; antipathies become habits. INIen resolve to differ eter- 
nally, without cause, for the mere reason of having once differed 
for good cause. One portion of the people is excluded by the 
other from the public service. Parties become factions. The 
torch of discord blazes while the fii-e of patriotism expires, and 
the fierce and unholy passions which have rent the Republic sur- 
vive its ruin. May our beloved city prove an exception to these 
sad examples. 

Gentlemen, the duties on which we are about to enter are 
not classed with those of high political dignity ; but if they are 
less fascinating to the ambitious, they are not without attrac- 
tion to the benevolent. 

"We are intrusted with the care of institutions which have a 
daily bearing upon the morals, education, health, and comfort 
of our fellow-citizens. Om- population exceeds that of more 
than one State at the time of admission into the Union. Its 
interests are not the less precious, because they are condensed in 
one spot. While the political government are occupied with 
counsels which look to the wealth and safety and glory of the 
nation, what better can we do than to consult together for the 
happiness of those among whom many of us were born and all 
of us live, and which is indissolubly linked to our own. 

On you, gentlemen, I shall rely for concurrence, in whatever 
may tend to this object, and I will refer by messages to your 
intelligence and consideration all matters that, by the charter, 
require that direction. 

On the twelfth of January, the subject of the flats lying to the 

eastward of Faneuil Hall Market came under the consideration 

of the City Council, and a committee was raised and invested 

with full authority to fill them up ; and to borrow money for 

25 



290 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

that object, on the terms and on the conditions and restrictions 
contained in the vote on that subject of the preceding City 
Council. In October, the superintendent of these operations 
reported them to be finished, and the cost of filling the flats up 
as having been seventeen thousand three hundred dollars. 

On the nineteenth of the same month, a petition from a 
number of citizens was presented, praying for such an alteration 
in the city charter, that the warden and inspectors in the respect- 
ive wards may have the right to receive the vote of any person 
duly qualified, though his name be not borne on the voting list. 
The subject was referred to a committee of both branches of the 
City Council, of which the Mayor was chairman, who, on the 
second of February, reported that " it would not be expedient to 
grant the right prayed for, to the warden and inspectors, as it 
would be giving them the power of deciding upon the qualifica- 
tions of voters amid the urgent business of an election ; that 
such a power would be liable to great interruption in its exer- 
cise, under such unfavorable circumstances ; would produce dis- 
putes and delay, and give rise to different decisions in different 
wards under similar circumstances and evidence, tending also 
to render the lists of the voters imperfect, and in the end useless, 
as the citizens would be remiss in procuring their names to be 
entered, knowing that the remedy could be done at the polls. 
On the whole subject, the Committee refer to a report made 
December twenty-second, 182S,i to the last City Council, (which 
was then printed and distributed,) " for an elaborate exposition 
of facts and principles relative to this subject." It is on the 
whole believed, that whatever improvement can be made in the 
means of enabling the citizen to ascertain whether his name be 
inserted on the list of voters, and to enable him to have it thus 
placed, prior to the election, ought to be adopted ; but that no 
government is bound to protect its citizens against wilful negli- 
gence and inattention to their own privileges. By this report 
tvvo resolutions were submitted, the first requesting and direct- 
ing the Assessors to take jn-oper measures for making out the 
voting lists, in each ward, by noting the names of the qualified 
voters at the time of making out the tax lists, so that the voting 
lists may be completed in each ward as near as may be at the 

1 See page 237. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 291 

same time with the tax lists of such ward ; and that they prepare 
and transmit to the Mayor and Aldermen, corrected voting lists 
of all the wards, on or before the first day of October, in each 
year. 

The second, declaring it to be the duty of the Mayor and 
Aldermen, as soon as they shall have received a certified tran- 
script of the voting lists, pursuant to the preceding resolution, to 
cause a copy thereof to be posted in some public place in each 
ward, and to give public notice, in one or more newspapers of 
the several places in which such lists shall be posted. The 
above report was accepted, and the resolutions passed, in the 
City Council. 

On the second of February, 1829, a committee of the City 
Council was appointed on the memorial of the Directors of the 
House of Juvenile Offenders, of which the Mayor was Chair- 
man, who reported, that " they had repaired to the site of the 
institution for the purpose of inspection, and examining into the 
state of its discipline, government, and general condition, and 
had a full conference and comparison of views with the Direct- 
ors and Superintendents of said House and of the House of 
Industry, with which the same is in some measure connected ; 
and after due examination into the premises, the Committee are 
gratified in expressing their approbation of the fidelity, industry, 
and ability, which are manifested in the administration of the 
affairs of the institution, by the Directors and other officers, and 
their persuasion of the real advantages resulting and promised 
to the City and Commonwealth from the system established and 
enforced by those who have the management of it, in all the 
departments ; and that the thanks of the community are spe- 
cially due to those individuals who have devoted, and persevere 
in devoting, their time and attention to the advancement of 
its interests, with no other reward but that of conscious benevo- 
lence, and a regard to the cause of humanity." The Report 
concluded with a recommendation to the City Council to caiTy 
into view the measures suggested by those Directors, which 
were presented in the form of a bill, defining more precisely the 
powers and duties of those Directors, and of the other officers of 
the institution. 

On the ninth of February, the Mayor nominated Thomas C. 
Amory, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, which was 



292 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

concun-ed in by the City Council ; and on the same day all the 
Assistant Engineers of the last year were nominated, and 
appointed by unanimous vote of that body. And on the 
twenty-ninth of the same month the Assistant Engineers all 
presented a memorial to the City Council, " requesting that 
measures may be taken, as soon as consistent with the con- 
venience of the city authorities, to elect others to supply their 
places ; and that in the mean time they will act as heretofore, 
and give all the aid and assistance in their power in subduing 
the common enemy." On the twenty-fifth of March ensuing, 
a vote passed the Board of Aldermen, giving their thanks to the 
late Assistant Engineers of the Fire Department, for the fidelity 
and alacrity uniformly manifested by them in the discharge of 
their arduous duties, with an assurance of the sense entertained 
by the Board of the value of their services and example, in pro- 
moting the efficient organization of that department. On the 
same day, the vacancies thus created were filled by electing 
twelve other citizens to constitute a new board of Assistant 
Engineers. And on the first of April ensuing, the salary of one 
thousand dollars for the Chief Engineer was estabfished by the 
city authorities, to be computed from the sixteenth of the pre- 
ceding February, and paid quarterly. Until this time the ser- 
vices of the Chief Engineer had been gratuitously rendered. 

In February, 1828, petitions having been presented to the 
Legislature of the State by the proprietors of wharves at the 
northerly part of the city, for permission to extend them into 
the channel of the harbor, the Mayor, apprehensive that such 
a permission might injuriously affect the free navigation of the 
channel, requested the Legislature to suspend its proceedings, 
and by special message brought the subject before the City 
Council, as being obviously of gi-eat importance ; stating that, 
although it is quite conceivable, that, in certain situations, 
wharves may be extended to some reasonable length into the 
channel without deti'iment to the harbor, yet it may be expected, 
that privileges granted to one set of proprietors, will be claimed 
with gi-eat importunity by others ; and that embairassment may 
arise to the city government from precedents, established with- 
out due consideration ; that it by no means foffows of course, 
that, because a license may be granted to extend a wharf in 
a place where the channel is wide, and where the current would 



CITY GOVERN^IENT. 293 

not be injuriously affected, a similar permission should be given 
in other cases, to which the dimensions of the channel and the 
effect on the current would present serious objections. Caution 
and deliberate examination by impartial judges, seemed to him 
requisite to make proper discrimination, to preserve limits and 
terms to every such license, as well as to the mode of carrying it 
into effect. In some positions, wharves erected on piles might 
be tolerated, which, if of solid construction, would be formidable 
nuisances. The Mayor, therefore, suggested the expediency of 
appointing commissioners, composed of merchants and others 
acquainted with the circumstances of the harbor, to examine 
and report upon every such application, such facts and opinions 
as may guide the city government in deciding on its merits; 
and that every permission granted by the Legislature should be 
on condition, that the work be executed in a mode satisfactory 
to the agents of the city government. This recommendation 
resulted at first in the passing, by the Board of Aldermen, of two 
resolutions, requesting the Mayor to present a remonstrance on 
the subject, in behalf of the City Council, and suggesting the 
expediency of having the entire power over the whole subject 
delegated to the city authorities. These resolutions were, how- 
ever, non-concurred in the Common Council, and an order passed 
proposing a joint committee of the City Council, to take such 
measures as they may deem proper to protect the rights and 
interests of the city, in the extension of wharves into the chan- 
nel of the harbor, with power to appear before the Committee 
of the Legislature that had the subject in hearing; and, if neces- 
sary, to employ the City Solicitor to maintain the rights of the 
city in the premises. In this resolution the Mayor and Alder- 
men concun'cd. 

In April, 1829, the Mayor communicated a letter from a com- 
mittee appointed by the citizens of Augusta, in the State of 
Georgia, stating " that that city had recently suffered greatly in 
consequence of a tremendous conflagration," which had con- 
sumed about two hundred houses, and deprived more than fifteen 
hundred persons of a house, and praying relief. The City Coun- 
cil accordingly ordered, that a copy of the letter should be sent 
to each of the pastors of the several churches in Boston, and 
authorized the Mayor to recommend, in behalf of the Board, 
a contribution thereon for the relief of those sufferers. On the 
25* 



294 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

twenty-fifth of May, Alderman Armstrong, as Treasurer of the 
contributions of the several churches in the city for the relief of 
the suflferers of Augusta, stated, that the amount collected was 
two thousand two hundred and forty-seven dollars and fifty- 
eight cents, which the City Council authorized the Mayor to 
transmit to the Committee appointed by the sufferers to receive 
contributions, which was immediately done, and in June follow- 
ing, the receipt of that amount was acknowledged by the 
Committee, in a letter to the Mayor, "expressing the grateful 
feehngs with which so acceptable a benefaction had been re- 
ceived, heightened by the reflection, that neither distance nor the 
absence of intimate relations could repress an exercise of libe- 
rality so honorable to his fellow-citizens." This letter was 
ordered by the City Council to be entered at large on their 
records, and be published. 

In May, 1829, it having been represented to the Mayor, that 
causes were slowly but certainly operating unfavorable effects 
upon the navigable waters of the inner harbor, and that the part 
of the channel extending from the Long Wharf, or thereabouts, 
southerly to the new bridge at South Boston, is gradually 
becoming more shallow from various causes ; that vessels lying 
at the wharves in that space are endangered by easterly and 
northeasterly storms ; and that there is no position, in that 
quarter, which can safely be occupied by steamboats, owing to 
the peculiarity of their construction, he presented the subject by 
special message to the attention and care of the city govern- 
ment, stating that if the flats, lying in the channel, (beyond the 
reach of individual claims,) were the property of the city, im- 
provements might be made upon them by means of breakwaters 
or island wharves, that would aftbrd effectaal protection to the 
wharves and harbor in that quarter, and obviate the increasing 
shallowness of the channel; that such improvements might be 
made without expense to the city, and possibly on contracts 
that would afford some ultimate revenue; that the fiats are 
manifestly not, and can never become, of value to the Common- 
wealth, except indirectly, as they may be subservient to the 
safeguard and navigation of the harbor ; and that it could not 
be doubted, that upon suitable application on behalf of the city 
to the Legislature, a cession might be obtained of the flats 
above-mentioned, and which, being in possession of the city, 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 295 

might, under their direction and authority, be converted to the 
public benefit ; that it would seem more proper and necessary, 
that these flats should become the property of the city, inas- 
much as memorials are frequently presented to the Legislatm-e 
for private grants and immunities, by the proprietors of wharves 
and estates lying in that neighborhood, (and others may be 
anticipated,) of the reasonableness or injurious tendency of 
which, as well as of the limitations and regulations to which, 
if gi-anted, they ought to be subjected, the city government 
would possess the most competent means of deciding, the 
premises being constantly under their observation. The Mayor, 
therefore, suggested the appointment of a committee, with full 
powers to apply to and endeavor to obtain from the Legisla- 
ture a grant of the premises, or of a portion thereof, sutlicient 
for the purposes above expressed. These views of the Mayor 
were immediately carried into effect in the City Council, by 
appointment of a committee for the purposes expressed in the 
message. 

In June following, the Committee reported, that the views 
presented by the Mayor were coiTect, and confirmed by the 
opinion of the Boston Marine Society, who had investigated the 
subject at their request ; and resolutions were reported and 
passed by the City Council, authorizing the Mayor to apply to 
the Legislature for a grant of the flats specified, and the Sena- 
tors and Representatives of the city were requested to aid in 
obtaining the grant. 

In February, 1829, on a petition signed by the requisite 
number of qualified voters, a warrant was issued by the City 
Council for a general meeting of citizens, on a day appointed 
for that purpose, to give in their ballots, by yea and nay, on the 
following resolutions : — 

1. Resolved, That in our opinion it is expedient for the Com- 
monwealth to construct a railroad, on the most eligible route 
from Boston to the western line of the county of Berkshire, so 
that, in conjunction with the authorities of the State of New 
York, it may be extended to the most desirable point on the 
Hudson River, near Albany or Troy ; and also from Boston to 
the Pawtucket River, at or near Providence, in the State of 
Rhode Island. 

2. Resolved, That in case the Legislatm-e should deem it 



296 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

expedient to construct said railroads, wholly at the expense of 
the State, that the city government be authorized and requested 
to apply to the Legislature for an act to enable any cities, towns, 
or bodies corporate, or individuals, to subscribe for such portion 
of said stock as may not be taken by the State, on such terms 
and conditions as may be deemed expedient. 

On the day appointed, a general meeting of the citizens of 
Boston was holden in Fanueil Hall, and both resolutions were 
passed by upwards of three thousand votes in the affirmative to 
less than sixty in the negative. 

An application to that effect was immediately made by the 
City Council to the Legislatm-e, in conformity with those reso- 
lutions. 

In November, a number of citizens petitioned the City Coun- 
cil, praying them to appropriate a suitable piece of land on the 
flats between the Western Avenue and Boylston Street, in aid 
of, and as a convenient terminus for warehouses, and a depot 
for a railroad, then proposed from the city to Brattleborough, in 
Vermont. This petition was refen-ed to the Mayor and Alder- 
man Loring, and to Messrs. Everett, EUis, and Rayner, of the 
Common Council. 

This Committee, in December following, reported, "that the 
establishment of railroads connecting the city with the interior 
country, is of such vital importance to the prosperity of the former, 
as to leave no room to doubt, that the city government will ever 
be actuated by a disposition to promote the success of these ope- 
rations, (when plans for them shall be matured,) by all reason- 
able aid and means within the limits of their constitutional 
authority. The location of land for the termination of such 
railroads in the city, appears to the Committee to involve many 
important considerations, which, in the present incipient stage 
of the business, the City Council are not competent to examine 
and weigh. It is a measure, also, upon which any company 
obtaining a charter would reserve the right of deciding for itself; 
and a premature assignment of lands for the proposed object 
might not only be rejected by such company, but prevent sub- 
scriptions to the stock by individuals, who would be dissatisfied 
in perceiving the adoption of views, which might preclude them 
from an entire freedom of voting and deciding upon what might 
be deemed a very essential feature in any enterprise of this 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 297 

kind.'" The Committee, therefore, recommended the passage 
of a resolve : — " That it is not expedient for the City Council to 
make any grant or assignment of land for the accommodation 
of railroads, until one or more charters of incorporation shall be 
obtained for the construction of such railroads, and the City 
Council shall thus be enabled to act upon distinct information 
of all cu-cumstances, in reference as well to the provisions of 
such charters, and as to their authority to make such grants 
under the charter of the city and the laws of the Common- 
wealth." This resolve was passed in concuiTence by both 
branches of the City Council. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, 2Iayor.'^ 

Prosperous State of the City — Embarrassment of the IManufactiiring Interests, 
and its Causes — Completion of the City Wharf — State of the City Debt — 
Sale of Public Lands — Condition of the Flats to the West of the Neck — 
State of the Court- Houses — Protection of our Outer Harbor — Centennial 
Celebration resolved upon — Grant of the City Hall for Sales of Domestic 
Manufactures Rescinded — Sale of Spirituous Liquors on the Common Pro- 
hibited — Old State House to be called " The City Hall " — Centennial Cele- 
bration of the Settlement of Boston. 

The records of the Mayor and Aldermen on the fourth of Jan- 
uary, 1830, state, that " a message was received from the Mayor, 
expressing his regrets that indisposition prevented his having the 
honor of meeting the gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen and 
Common Council in their own chambers ; and, therefore, he 
respectfully requested their presence at his house, at such hour 
as might be agreeable to them, to qualify for their respective 
functions. The members of both branches of the City Council 
then proceeded to the mansion-house of the Mayor, where the 
government was organized with the usual solemnities ; after 
wliich, the Mayor delivered the following inaugural address : — 

GENTLEMEN OF THE CITY COUNCIL: 

The season has returned, in which we who are chosen by our 
fellow-citizens to administer their municipal concerns for the 
cuiTent year, are expected to enter upon the discharge of our 
respective functions. 

Our acknowledgments are due to the Great Disposer of all 
events for having preserved to our constituents, throughout the 

1 The whole number of votes were 1,96G; of which the Mayor received 1,844. 

The Aldermen wei-e Henry J. Oliver, John F. Lorinn;, Samuel T. Armstrong, 
Benjamin Russell, Wiuslow Lewis, Charles Wells, Moses Williams, John B. 
M'Cleary. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 299 

past year, the possession of the principal blessings, on which 
depend the welfare and comfort of populous cities. The health- 
iness of the city, always unrivalled, has been preserved at least to 
its usual standard. With the advantages of heaUh have been 
united those of plenty. Our markets and magazines are filled 
to exuberance with all that is needful for sustenance, or condu- 
cive to comfort and luxury, at reasonable and reduced prices. 
We live also in a state of peace, which seems not to be threat- 
ened with approaching interruption. The public concerns of 
the State and nation are thus far well-administered, and no 
indication is manifested, in the communications of the executive 
government of the United States, of plans or schemes of policy 
calculated to inspire apprehensions of measures unfavorable to 
the interests of this community. These circumstances seem to 
embrace all that is requisite for the prosperity of an industrious 
and enterprising people. They have, however, for the last two 
years, been counteracted by others, which have opposed se- 
rious impediments to our advancement. The capitalists and 
merchants of this city, influenced by the strong demonstrations 
manifested in other parts of the Union in favor of the manufac- 
turing policy and by the patronage of government, and allured 
by fallacious estimates of great profits made by others, in vio- 
lence of then* natural predilections and habits, have invested 
an undue portion of capital in manufacturing establishments. 
Their example was followed by those whose capital consisted 
wholly in their spirit of enterprise. Hence ensued a disastrous 
competition. The establishments bottomed on substantial funds 
were stimulated to launch forth beyond the natural and reason- 
able limits of those funds. They could not renounce the market 
without ruin, and their rivals could not maintain themselves in 
it without sacrifices, that must end in ruin. This crisis was 
eagerly seized by the British manufacturers as furnishing an 
occasion to extinguish, perhaps forever, the manufacturing sjiirit 
in this country ; and they inundated our market with the redun- 
dancy of their own. Hence resulted an excessive plethora, and 
consequent depreciation of value, loss, and sacrifice by forced 
sales. Owing to these incidents, combined with the unwise 
and improvident system of our legislation as respects manufac- 
turing corporations, and with the uncertainty of the future policy 
of the government, disturbed by the vehemence of opposition to 



300 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

the protecting system originating here, hence extending to other 
States, and brought back by violent reaction — add to these the 
panic which always aggravates calamitous events — it has hap- 
pened, as might be foreseen, that property vested in manufac- 
tures has for a time become valueless as a medium of exchange, 
or a foundation for credit or accommodation in any form. By 
these means, many of our worthy citizens are ruined, others 
cramped and embarrassed, and our whole community become 
less able to embark in other enterprises, which would augment 
the wealth and resources of the city. There is, however, a 
cheering prospect that the fierceness of this storm has over- 
blown ; that oiu- affairs, in common with those of other parts of 
the world, will gradually find their level, with less of injury to the 
city than our fears would seem to justify ; and that, after the 
struggle of half a century, in peace and in war, our nation will 
have secured the privilege and the faculty of manufacturing for 
itself. Neither the state of public sentiment, nor the condition 
of our treasury at the close of the year, authorized the expectation 
that appropriations would be made for expensive public build- 
ings, or improvements of any description. Accordingly, nothing 
in this line has been attempted. The City Wharf has been 
completed, and promises a revenue, which, after a few years, 
will reimburse its cost, and be then applicable to other objects. 
Two new engine-houses, two school-houses, and a cottage for 
the resident Physician on Hospital Island, are the only new 
buildings erected the past year. Five new reservoirs have also 
been completed. 

The amount of the city debt, on the first of May last, was 
$9] 1,850. Of which the sum paid by the Committee on the 
reduction of the public debt, beyond the amount of moneys 
borrowed to be applied to that object, is $54,100. There 
was also borrowed for the payment of debt to the Mercantile 
Wharf Corporation, and for the completion of Faneuil Hall 
Market, the sum of $25,880.75. So that the true deduction 
from the amount of the debt as it stood in May last, up to this 
day, is $28,219.25. Thus leaving the aggregate amount of the 
city debt at this time, $883,630. The only personal assets on 
which reliance can be placed, as a partial offset against this 
debt, are bonds and securities due to the city, of $257,341.42. 
Apart from these, the only fund available for the reduction or 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 301 

extinguishment of this debt, must be found in the city's lands ; 
and it follows, of course, that in the judicious management and 
disposal of these lands can be found the only resources for public 
credit, and for the ultimate improvement of the city, without 
resort to dkect taxation, and that no object can be more worthy 
of our constant vigilance. 

I have great faith in the intrinsic value of these lands, which, 
owing to the vestm-e in which they are permitted to remain, is 
not sufficiently appreciated. They certainly will not take care 
of themselves. It is essential to any project for the lucrative 
sale of them, that a prospective plan should be adopted and 
estabHshed, so that purchasers may calculate with reasonable 
certainty upon future, as well as present advantages. It is also 
indispensable to the success of such project, that moderate 
appropriations should be made, from time to time, to enable the 
commissioner, under instructions from the Mayor and Aldermen, 
at the sole expense of the city, or by cooperating with other 
proprietors, (as the case' may be,) to make such drains, dikes, 
and canals, as may pu/ -rtain parts of the land in a marketable 
condition. I am far uom recommending the expenditure of 
large amounts upon uncertain speculation ; but am also satisfied, 
that, without "some disbursement, nothing valuable can be 
effected. For , this purpose, the needful sums might be bor- 
rowed as wanted, reimbursable from the first sales ; thus mak- 
ing a nominal temporary addition to the debt, for the sake of 
its sure, effective, and ultimate payment. There could be little 
danger of serious aberration in this procedure. These lands arc- 
in some places contiguous to those of individual proprietors, 
whose well-directed sagacity and enterprise have converted pre- 
mises possessing no supereminent advantages into populous 
sti-eets and squares, and at rates, which, realized by the city, 
would not only extinguish its debt, but contribute an ample 
fund for future improvements, and relief from our annual burden. 

Nothing is perceived to inhibit those intrusted with the sale of 
your lands from looking over the shoulders of these wise stew- 
ards and profitmg by then- experience, but funds necessary for 
occasional advances. In this connection it is my duty to state, 
that the condition of the flats w^est of the neck is regarded by 
eminent physicians as becoming pregnant with danger to the 
health of the city. It is an unwelcome truth, that the inter- 
2() 



302 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

mittent fever is no longer confined to those region?, to which it 
was until lately regarded as cndemial, but occasionally appears 
in more northerly latitudes, which were thought to be happily 
exempted from that scourge. Our own State, (so far as I am 
informed,) and certainly our own city, are, under Providence, 
strangers to this afflicting and enervating disease, which is 
rarely dislodged from positions which it once occupies. But, if 
such be the predisposition of the atmosphere of the country 
around us, we are admonished by it not to set danger at defi- 
ance, by fostering upon our borders an immense morass, circum- 
vented with solid dikes, and from its position a receptacle of 
the seeds of disease. 

The state of oin: principal court-houses and of the land con- 
nected with them, and of other county property, demands seri- 
ous investigation, and is not free from embarrassing circum- 
stances. This land, lying in the centre of the city, is of gi'eat 
value in itself; but, cut off from streets by the public buildings, 
it could not be sold for a fair equivalent. These buildings 
are not only altogether ill adapted to the exigencies of the city, 
but the principal court-house is of a construction so defective 
as to have been condemned upon a regular survey as unsafe. 
It is now shored up in some parts by buttresses. It is believed, 
that no alternative will remain to the city but ,to sell all the 
land and buildings, and to apply the proceeds, as far as they 
will go, to the jiurchase of another site, suitable for the accom- 
modation of all our courts, and city government, and officers. 
It is not my intention to recommend this measure defini- 
tively at this time. But, under a deep conviction that it will 
bear examination, and be found at no distant period consistent 
with true economy, and essential to the public accommodation, 
I shall crave your permission, in due time, to submit to your 
inspection the details of a plan for this purpose, not yet quite 
matured. To some share in these lands and buildings, the 
town of Chelsea, as a portion of the county, is understood to 
have a claim. The best interest of the city requires that this 
claim should, on some equitable principles, be adjusted and 
extinguished ; and that with it should terminate the existing 
connection between Chelsea and this city. It seems, at first 
blush, preposterous, that this city should be compelled to main- 
tain the organization and formalities of a county jmisdiction, in 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 803 

consequence merely of this connection. It is attended with great 
additional embarrassment, and the expense of it is not subject to 
the ordinary revision and control of the city government. Its 
dissolution must be preliminary to any substantial and salutary 
reform in the organization of our courts, and the administration 
of justice. 

The affairs of the Houses of Industry, Reformation, Correc- 
tion, and the Jail, have been conducted in the most merito- 
rious manner by their respective Overseers, and Superintend- 
ents, according to their means. But so much is wanted to 
place them on a footing commensurate with the claims of 
humanity and the feelings of the age — so much beyond our 
present resources — that I refrain from enlarging on the subject; 
expressing merely the hope, that some cheap provision may be 
made, by temporary buildings for the more effectual separa- 
tion of the insane from the children of vice, and the least atro- 
cious of those from hardened offenders ; and that the time is 
approaching, when the unfortunate debtor will not be domicili- 
ated or confounded with either of these classes. 

From undoubted information it is ascertained, that the danger 
of our harbor, from the alluvion of some of the islands, and the 
breach of the sea over the beaches, is constantly increasing. A 
confidence is felt, that the national government will continue its 
aid, to secure us against the more formidable im-oads of the sea in 
our lower harbor. But additional protection is wanted for the 
interior positions, and for the existing wharves. A large surface 
of flats in the southeasterly quarter of the city, beyond the limits 
of those appendant to the upland, and entirely useless for any 
but the proposed object, would serve as a foundation for break- 
waters ; and, if owned by the city, might be ceded for that 
purpose to companies who would erect them. Application has 
been made to the Commonwealth for a release of any claim 
they may have to the premises, and no objection is foreseen to 
their granting what is of no value in its present circumstances, 
but in the benefit of which the State would participate, when 
made viseful to its metropolis. 

A copious supply of fresh water is a convenience, the want 
of which becomes constantly more imperative. If, upon due 
consideration, it should not be determined expedient for the 
city to erect hydi'ants on its own account, the propriety of 



304' MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

gi-anting that immunity to a company will natm'ally engage 
and command the attention of the city government. 

The transcendent success of the raUroad system in England, 
as well as the encouraging result, so far as it has been attempted 
in this country, support the hope, that Massachusetts will not 
linger in the rear of that enterprise, from the issue of ^yhich 
no other State has more to expect than herself. 

Gentlemen of the Common Council, — It is peculiarly your 
province to devise all practicable means for alleviating the weight 
of taxation, and retrenching the expenses of the city government. 
I have anxiously reviewed the ordinary heads of expenditure, with 
a desire to suggest to you any savings that may be made, con- 
sistently with the accustomed wants, habits, and expectations 
of our fellow-citizens. I regi-et to say, that I can discern none 
of much importance. The population of the city is increasing. 
The support of the School and Fire establishment is expected to 
be maintained in full energy. The city is at present defectively 
lighted, though additions are constantly making to the number 
of lamps and quantity of oil. Many streets are unpaved, the 
claims of whose inhabitants to equal accommodations with their 
neighbors, are extremely importunate. Occasions constantly 
present themselves for the widening of streets, which, if not 
improved, will not recur for many years. It is my own opinion, 
that the cleaning and the sweeping of the streets are practised 
to a needless and pernicious extreme ; but such hitherto seems 
to be the pleasure of our fellow-citizens, to which I have conse- 
quently insti'ucted the Superintendent of Streets to conform. 
Of the sums appropriated for the cm-rent expenses of this year, 
more than nineteen thousand dollars have been paid to meet 
the arrearages of the last financial year, arising from outstand- 
ing contracts and demands. It is confidently believed, that no 
such items will appear to trench upon the appropriations for the 
cm-rent service ; still, it is apprehended that no very important 
reduction can be made in our annual expenditure. 

On the subject of salaries, I have but a single remark, that 
can be made with decorum. Should a general reduction of the 
salaries of yom- city officers be decided on, I shall not avail 
myself of the protection provided by charter for the Mayor's 
salary during the period for which he is elected ; but shall con- 
form to what I may discern to be the public sentiment. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 305 

Nothing remains for me bvit to renew to you all my sincere 
expression of the good wishes inspired by the associations of the 
season, and to assm'e you of the great pleasure I shall derive in 
my humble attempts to give effect to your ordinances. 

H. G. Otis. 
January 4, 1830. 

On the eighth of February, 1830, the Mayor communicated a 
letter from the Hon. John Davis, Thomas L. Winthrop, James 
Savage, and the Rev. Dr. Thaddeus M. Hams, a Committee of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society, "respecting the expe- 
diency of celebrating the second century of the foundation of 
Boston, which happens the present year," which, being read, was 
referred to a committee, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Rus- 
sell and Lewis, and Messrs. Bigelow, Minns, James, Eveleth, 
and Gregg, of the Common Council, to consider and report. 

On the fu-st of March ensuing, this Committee reported, that 
the seventeenth of September next wiU be the commencement 
of the third century, since the name of Boston was first con- 
fen-ed upon this city by the Com't of Assistants then held at 
Charlestown, and that there would be a propriety in the public 
celebration of that day by the citizens of Boston and their 
government ; that a public address commemorative of that event 
and its all-important consequences be, on that day, delivered at 
some suitable place in this city ; that a committee of arrange- 
ments be authorized to engage an orator for that day, and to 
make such other dispositions for the honorable notice of it as 
they may deem proper. 

The report being accepted in both branches, the Mayor and 
Benjamin T. Pickman, President of the Common Council, and 
the other members who constituted the Committee that made 
the above report, were appointed a Committee of Arrangements 
to cany the same into effect. 

This Committee invited Josiah Quincy, then President of 
Harvard University, to deliver the oration, and Charles Sprague, 
Esq., a distinguished citizen of Boston, to deliver a poem on that 
occasion, both of whom accepted the appointment. 

On the eighth of ]\Iarch, 1830, an order was passed by the 
Board of Aldermen, " that notice be given to the New England 
Society for the promotion of Manufactures and the Mechanic 
26* 



306 MUNICIPAL HISTOKY. 

Ai-ts, that, after the expiralion of six months, the vote which 
passed the City Council on the nineteenth of November, 1827 ,i 
gi-anting the exclusive use of the hall over the Market for the 
purpose of their semi-annual sales, from the fifteenth day of 
March to the fifteenth day of April, and from the fifteenth day 
of August to the fifteenth day of September, free of rent, until 
the further order of the City Council, and that six months' notice 
should be given to the said Society of the rescinding of this 
privilege, be and the same is hereby rescinded," This being 
passed by the Board of Aldermen, was, on the twenty-second 
of INIarch, non-concurred by the Common Council ; and on the 
twenty-ninth, a committee of conference was appointed, con- 
sisting of the Mayor, and Alderman Armsti-ong, and Messrs. 
Waters and Win slow Wright, of the Common Council, on 
the subject of the difference between the two Boards. On the 
third day of May, this Committee reported, that the privilege 
granted to the New England Society was experimental and 
a temporary accommodation ; that a diversity of opinion ex- 
isted among those interested in manufactm-es, as to the advan- 
tage of persevering in these semi-annual sales; that whatever 
course the manufacturers might adopt on the subject, the " true 
inquiry of the city government was, whether the advantage 
indirectly accruing to the city itself, from their continuance, was 
equivalent to the emolument which may reasonably be antici- 
pated duectly to result from another mode of disposing of the 
premises. Your Committee are unable to discern that that is 
the case. The manufactures of this part of the country have 
now attained so good a standard, and to such celebrity, that 
whenever the supply throughout the United States does not 
exceed the demand, they will be sought for by customers, whe- 
ther to be had at private or public sales. The use of the build- 
ing is of little or no value to those who fabricate the goods. 
The amount of the storage thus saved (if in fact it be saved) 
averaged on the whole quantity of goods sold, cannot be felt in 
the price of the goods, either by the individual seller or the pur- 
chaser ; nor can the accommodation be very important to the 
auctioneers, all of whom have capacious warehouses. On the 
other hand, the state of the city and its finances impose upon its 

1 Seep. 201. 



CITY GOVEHmiENT. 307 

government the duty to avail themselves of every fan- som-ce of 
revenue in its occupation of its property." The Committee 
declared their belief that a fair rent might be obtained for the use 
of the hall; and that if the New England Society should be 
inclined to persevere in their public sales, there might be a dis- 
position to allow them the use of Faneuil Hall in Keu of that in 
their present occupation. The Committee, therefore, recom- 
mended that the Common Council recede from their vote of the 
twenty-second of March, non-concurring with the order of the 
Board of Aldermen, passed on the eighth of March, and that 
they concur in passing the same; and that the Mayor and 
Aldermen be authorized to lease the hall over the Market, here- 
tofore used by the New England Society, upon the best terms 
they can obtain. 

This report was accepted, and the order passed in both 
branches of the City Council. 

In May of this year, a Committee of the Society for the Sup- 
pression of Intemperance petitioned the Mayor and Aldermen 
to cause a band of music to be stationed on the Common on the 
afternoons and evenings of the General Election and Fourth of 
July, such a practice having, in their judgment, a tendency to 
promote order and suppress an inclination to riot and intempe- 
rance, which, on the report of a committee, was ordered, and an 
adequate appropriation was voted. 

Orders at the same meeting were passed similar to those 
issued in 1828, directing the constables of the city to prosecute 
any person who should seU on the Common, in the malls, or in 
any of th streets contiguous thereto, spirituous liquors or any 
mixed liqu -s ; or who should, upon any of said places, play at 
cards, or diet, or with any implemeriw used in gaming, on the 
day of General Election, Artillery Election, and the Anniversary 
of the Declaration of Independence ; and before granting per- 
mission to any person to erect booths, notice to the above effect 
should be given, and also by publishing copies of this order in 
the newspapers and in suitable public places. 

On the tvventy-fifth of June, the Mayor, by special message, 
after refening to the relations and interests of the city, in respect 
of the public buildings at its command, for public purposes, 
recommended the giving to the Committee charged with the 
alteration and repairs of the Old State House, full power to pre- 



308 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

pare in that building chambers for the accommodation of the 
Mayor and Aldermen and Common Council and such of the 
city officers as could be conveniently provided for in those pre- 
mises. This recommendation was immediately sanctioned by 
the City Council, and the aiTangements having been made as 
suggested in that message, the City Council first met in the 
chambers prepared for their accommodation on the seventeenth 
of September, 1830, the day assigned for the centennial celebra- 
tion of the foundation of the city, and the two branches being 
assembled in Convention, the Mayor announced to them the 
name " by which the edifice " (called the Old State House) " shall 
hereafter be called, namely, — City Hall," — and then made to 
the Convention an address ; " after which," the records state, 
" the two branches went in procession to the Old South Church, 
escorted by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, 
where an address was delivered by the Honorable Josiah Quincy, 
President of Harvard University, and a poem by Charles Sprague, 
Esq., and other services were performed in commemoration of 
the close of the second century from the first settlement of 
Boston." 

On the twentieth of September, votes were passed by both 
branches of the City Council, with customary expressions of 
interest and respect to Mr. Otis and Mr. Quincy for their 
respective addresses, and to Mr. Sprague for his poem ; and 
copies of each were requested for the press. They were published 
accordingly, and constitute the remaining and final chapters of 
this history. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CITY GOVERmiENT. 1830. 

Harrisox Gray Otis, Mayor. 

Address of the ]\Iayor to the Members of the City Council, on the Removal of 
the ISIunicipal Government to the Old State Plouse, on the Morning of the 
17th of September, 1830. 

Gentlemen of the Common Council: — 

I HAVE the honor to announce to you, that the Mayor and 
Aldermen have concuiTed with your request to change the name 
of this building, and to order that it be henceforth called and 
Imown by the name of the City Hall. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — The intimations which 
I have received from many individuals of yom* body, have left 
me no room to doubt of your general expectation, that this first 
occasion of om- meeting in this chamber should not be permitted 
to pass away without something more than a brief record of the 
event upon your journals. The spot on which we are convened 
is patriot ground. It was consecrated by om* pious ancestors to 
the duties of providing for the welfare of their infant settlement, 
and for a long series of years was occupied in succession by the 
great and good men, whom Providence raised up to establish 
the institutions and liberties of their country. 
X There are none, who have paid even a superficial attention to 
the process of their perceptions, who are not conscious that a 
prolific source of intellectual pleasures and pains is found in our 
faculty of associating the remembrance of characters and events, 
which have most interested om- affections and passions, with the 
spot whereon the first have lived and the latter have occurred. 
It is to the magic of this local influence that we are indebted for 
the charm which recalls the sports and pastimes of our child- 
hood, the joyous days of youth, when buoyant spuits invested 
all surrounding objects with the color of the rose. It is this 
which brings before us, as we look back through the vista of 



310 MUXICIPAL HISTORY. 

riper years, past enjoyments and afflictions, aspiring hopes and 
bitter disappointments, the temptations we have encountered, 
the snares which have entangled us, the dangers we have escaped, 
the fidelity or treachery of friends. It is this which enables us 
to surround ourselves with the images of those who were asso- 
ciates in the scenes we contemplate, and to hold sweet converse 
with the spirits of the departed, whom we have loved or hon- 
ored in the places which shall know them no more. 

But the potency of these local associations is not limited to 
the sphere of our personal experience. We are qualified by it to 
derive gratification from what we have heard and read of other 
times, to bring forth forgotten treasures from the recesses of 
memory, and recreate fancy in the fields of imagination. The 
regions which have been famed in sacred or fabulous history; 
the mountains, plains, isles, rivers, celebrated in the classic page ; 
the seas traversed by the discoverers of new w^orlds ; the fields 
in which empires have been lost and won, are scenes of enchant- 
ment for the visitor who indulges the trains of perception, which 
either rush unbidden on his mind, or are courted by its volun- 
tary efforts. This faculty it is, which, united with a disposition to 
use it to advantage, alone gives dignity to the passion for visit- 
ing foreign countries, and distinguishes the philosopher, who 
moralizes on the turf that covers the mouldering dust of ambi- 
tion, valor, or patriotism, from the fashionable vagabond, who 
flutters among the flowers which bloom over their graves. 

Among all the objects of mental association, ancient buildings 
and ruins affect us with the deepest and most vivid emotions. 
They were the works of beings like ourselves. While a mist 
impervious to mortal view hangs over the future, all our fond 
imaginings of the things which " eye hath not seen nor ear 
heard," in the eternity to come, are inevitably associated with 
the men, the events and things, which have gone to join the 
eternity that is past. When imagination has in vain essayed to 
rise beyond the stars which " proclaim the story of then- birth," 
inquisitive to know the occupations and condition of the sages 
and heroes whom we hope to join in a higher empyrean, she 
drops her weary wing, and is compelled to alight among the 
fragments of " gorgeous palaces and cloud-capp'd towers," which 
cover their human ruins ; and, by aid of these localities, to rumi- 
nate upon their virtues and their faults, on their deeds in the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 311 

cabinet and in the field, and upon the revolutions of the suc- 
cessive ages in which they lived. To this propensity may be 
traced the sublimated feelings of the man, who, familiar with 
the stories of Sesostris, the Pharaohs, and the Ptolemies, sur- 
veys the pyramids, not merely as stupendous fabrics of mecha- 
nical skill, but as monuments of the pride and ambitious folly 
of kings, and of the debasement and oppression of the wretched 
myriads, by whose labors they were raised to the skies. To 
this must be referred the awe and contrition which solemnize 
and melt the heart of the Christian who looks into the Holy 
Sepulchre, and believes he sees the place where the Lord was 
laid. From this originate the musings of the scholar, who, 
amid the ruins of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, ti'ansports 
his imagination to the age of Pericles and Phidias ; — the reflec- 
tions of all not dead to sentiment, who descend to the subterra- 
nean habitation of Pompeii, — handle the utensils that once 
ministered to the wants, and tlie ornaments subservient to the 
luxury of a polished city, — behold the rut of wheels upon the 
pavement hidden for ages from human sight, — and realize the 
awful hour when the hum of industry and the song of joy, the 
wailing of the infant and the garrulity of age, were suddenly 
and forever silenced by the fiery deluge which biu-ied the city, 
until accident and industry, after the lapse of nearly eighteen 
centuries, revealed its ruins to the curiosity and cupidity of the 
passing age. 

These remarks, in which you may think there is more of truth 
than of novelty, have been suggested by the experiment, which, 
a few days since, I attempted, to condense in the compass of a 
short address a few ideas appropriate to this occasion. Begin- 
ning to think upon matters connected with the old Town House, 
I found my mind confused, and overwhelmed N\^ith the multi- 
tudinous associations of our early history which it naturally 
induced. To indulge them to a great extent, would trench 
upon the province and the horn* assigned to another, whose 
eloquence will furnish the principal gratification of the day. It 
is, therefore, indispensable, to confine myself to a few observa- 
tions, and consequently to do but imperfect justice to my feel- 
ings and the subject. 

The history of the Town House, considered merely as a corn- 
pages of brick and wood, is short and simple. It was erected 



312 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

between the years 1657 and 1659, and was principally of wood, 
as far as can be ascertained. The conti'actor received six hun- 
dred and eighty pounds, on a final settlement in full of all con- 
tracts. This was probably the whole amount of tlie cost, being 
double that of the estimate — a ratio pretty regularly kept up in 
our times. The population of the town, sixty years afterwards, 
was about ten thousand ; and it is allowing an increase beyond 
the criterion of its actual numbers at subsequent periods, to pre- 
sume that at the time of the first erection of the Town House, 
it numbered three thousand souls. In 1711, the building was 
burnt to the ground, and soon afterwards built with brick. In 
1747, the interior was again consumed by fhe, and soon repaired 
in the form which it retained until the present improvement, 
wdth the exception of some alterations in the apartments made 
upon the removal of the Legislature to the new State House. 
The eastern chamber was originally occupied by the CouncO, 
afterwards by the Senate. The Representatives constantly held 
their sittings in the western chamber. The floor of these was 
supported by pillars, and terminated at each end by doors, and 
at one end by a flight of steps leading into State Street. In the 
day time, the doors were kept open, and the floor served as a 
walk for the inhabitants, always much frequented, and during 
the sessions of the courts, thronged. On the north side, were 
offices for the clerks of the supreme and inferior courts. In 
these the judges robed themselves, and walked in procession, 
followed by the bar, at the opening of the courts. Committee- 
rooms were provided in the upper story. Since the removal of 
the Legislature, it has been internally divided into apartments 
and leased for various uses in a mode familiar to you all, and it 
has now undergone great repairs. This floor being adapted to 
the accommodation of the city government, and principal ollicers, 
while the fii'st floor is allotted to the post-office, newsroom, and 
private warehouses. 

In this brief account of the natural body of the building, 
which it is believed comprehends whatever is material, there is 
nothing certainly dazzling or extraordinary. It exhibits no 
pomp of architectural grandem* or refined taste, and has no 
pretensions to vie with the magnificent structures of other coun- 
tries or even of our own. Yet it is a goodly and venerable pile ; 
and, with its recent improvements, is an ornament of the place, 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 313 

of whose liberty it was once tiie citadel. And it has an interest 
for Bostonians who enter it this day, like that which is felt by 
grown children for an ancient matron by whom they were 
reared, and whom, visiting after years of absence, they find her 
in her neat, chaste, old-fashioned attne, spruced up to receive 
them, with her comforts about her, aild the same kind, hospi- 
table, and excellent creature, whom they left in less flourishing 
cu'cumstances. But to this edifice there is not only a natural 
but " a spiritual body," which is the immortal soul of Independ- 
ence. Nor is there, on the face of the earth, another building, 
however venerable for its antiquity or stately in its magnifi- 
cence, however decorated by columns and porticos, and car- 
toon;?, and statues, and altars, and outshining " the wealth of 
Ornius or of Ind," entitled in history to more honorable men- 
tion, or whose spires and turrets are surrounded with a more 
glorious halo, than this unpretending building. 

This assertion might be justified by a review of the parts per- 
formed by those who have made laws for a centmy after the first 
settlement of Boston ; of their early contention for their chartered 
rights ; of their perils and difficulties with the natives ; of their 
costly and heroic exertions in favor of the mother country 4n the 
common cause. But I pass over them all, replete as they are 
with interest, with wonder, and with moral. Events posterior to 
those growing out of them indeed, and taking from them their 
complexion, are considered by reflecting men as having pro- 
duced more radical changes in the character, relations, prospects, 
and (so far as it becomes us to prophesy) in the destinies of the 
human family, than all other events and revolutions that have 
transpired since the Christian era. I do not say that the princi- 
ples which have led to these events originated here. But I ven- 
ture to assert that here, within these walls, they were first prac- 
tically applied to a well-regulated machinery of human passions, 
conscious rights, and steady movements, which, forcing these 
United States to the summit of prosperity, has been adopted as 
a model by which other nations have been, and will yet be jiro- 
pelled on the railroad which leads to universal freedom. The 
power of these engines is self-moving, and the motion is perpe- 
tual. Sages and philosophers had discovered that the world was 
made for the people who inhabit it ; and that kings were less 
entitled in their own right to its government than lions, whose 
27 



314 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

claims to be lords of the forest are supported by physical prow- 
ess. But the books and treatises which maintained these doc- 
trines were read by the admirers of the Lockes and Sidneys and 
Miltons and Harringtons, and replaced on their shelves as bril- 
liant theories. Or, if they impelled to occasional action, it 
ended in bringing new tyrants to the throne and sincere patriots 
to the scaftbld. But your progenitors who occupied these seats 
first taught a whole people systematically to combine the united 
force of their moral and physical energies ; to learn the rights of 
insun-ection, not as written in the language of the passions, but 
in codes and digests of its justifiable cases ; to enforce them 
under the restraints of discipline; to define and limit its objects; 
to be content with success, and to make sure of its advantages. 
All this they did ; and when the propitious hour had arrived, 
they called on their countrymen as the angel called upon the 
apostles, — " Come, rise up quickly, and the chains fell from 
their hands." The inspiring voice echoed through the welkin in 
Europe and America, and awakened nations. He who would 
learn the effects of it, must read the history of the world for the 
last half century. He who would anticipate the consequences 
must "ponder well the probabilities with which time is pregnant 
for the next. The memory of these men is entitled to a full 
share of all the honor arising from the advantage derived to 
mankind from this change of condition, but yet is not charge- 
able with the crimes and misfortunes, more than is the memory 
of Fulton with the occasional bursting of a boiler. 

Shall I then glance rapidly at some of the scenes and the 
actors who figured in them within these walls ? Shall I carry 
you back to the controversies between Governor Barnard and 
the House of Representatives, commencing nearly seventy years 
ago, respecting the claims of the mother country to tax the Colo- 
nies without their consent ? To the stand made against writs 
of assistance in the chamber now intended for your Mayor and 
Aldermen, where and when, according to John Adams, " Lide- 
pendence was born ? " and whose star was then seen in the 
East by wise men. To the memorable vindication of the House 
of Representatives by one of its members ? To the " Rights of 
the Colonies," adopted by the Legislature as a text book, and 
transmitted by their order to the British IVIinistry ? To the 
series of patriotic resolutions, protests, and State papers, teeming 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 315 

with indignant eloquence and iiTesistible argument in opposi- 
tion to the stamp and other tax acts? To the landing and quar- 
tering of troops in the town ? To the rescinding of resolutions 
in obedience to royal mandates ? To the removal of the seat 
of government, and the untuing struggle in which the Legisla- 
ture was engaged for fourteen or fifteen years, supported by the 
Adamses, the Thachers, the Hawleys, the Hancocks, the Bow- 
doins, the Quincys, and then- illustrious colleagues ? In fact, the 
most important measures which led to the emancipation of the 
Colonies, according to Hutchinson, a competent judge, origin- 
ated in this house, in this apartment, with those men, who, put- 
ting life and fortune on the issue, adopted for their motto, — 

" Let such, such only tread this sacred floor 
'\Vho dare to love their country and be poor." 

Events of a chfferent complexion are also associated with the 
Boston Town House. At one time it was desecrated by the 
King's troops, quartered in the Representatives' chamber, and on 
the lower floor. At another time, cannon were stationed and 
pointed toward its doors. Below the balcony in King Street, on 
the doleful night of the fifth of March, the blood of the first vic- 
tims to the military executioners was shed. On the appearance 
of the Governor in the street, he was surrounded by an immense 
throng, who, to prevent mischief to his person, though he had 
lost their confidence, forced him into this building, with the cry 
" to the Town House ! to the Town House ! " He then went 
forth into the balcony, and promising to use his endeavors to 
bring the offenders to justice, and advising the people to rethe, 
they dispersed, vociferating "home I home!" The Governor 
and Council remained all night deliberating in dismal conclave, 
while the friends of their country bedewed their pillows with 
tears, — " such tears as patriots shed for dying laws." But I 
would not wish, under any circumstances, to dwell upon inci- 
dents like these, thankful as I am that time, which has secured 
our freedom, has extinguished our resentments. I therefore turn 
from these painful reminiscences, and refer you to the day when 
Independence, matm-e in age and lovehness, advanced with 
angelic grace from the chamber in which she was born into the 
same balcony, and holding in her hand the immortal scroll on 
which her name and character and claims to her inheritance 



316 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

were inscribed, received from the street, filled with an impene- 
trable phalanx, and windows glittering with a blaze of beauty, 
the heartfelt homage and electrifying peals of the men, women, 
and children of the whole city. The splendor of that glorious 
vision of my childhood seems to be now present to my view, and 
the harmony of that universal concert to vibrate in my ear. 

Such, gentlemen, is the cursory and meagre chronicle of the 
men and the occun'ences which have given celebrity to this 
building. And if it be true, that we are now before the altar, 
whence the coals were taken which have kindled the flame of 
liberty in two hemispheres, you will realize with me the senti- 
ment already expressed, that the most interesting associations 
of the eventful history of the age might rise in natural trains, 
and be indulged and presented on this occasion without violence 
to propriety. 

We, gentlemen, have now become, for a short period, occu- 
pants of this temple of Liberty. Henceforth, for many years, 
the city government will probably be here administered. The 
duties of its members are less arduous, painful, and dignified 
than those of the eminent persons who once graced these seats, 
and procured for us the privilege of admission to them. Yet, 
let not these duties be undervalued. They are of sufficient 
weight and importance to excite a conscientious desire in good 
minds, to cultivate a public spirit, and imitate with reverence 
great examples. There is ample scope for dispositions to serve 
our fellow-citizens in the department of the city government. 
It is charged with concerns afl'ecting the daily comfort and 
prosperity of sixty thousand persons, a number exceeding that 
of several of these United States at the time of their admission 
into the Union. The results of their deliberations have an 
immediate bearing upon the morals, health, education, and 
purse of this community, and are generally of more interest to 
their feelings and welfare than the ordinary acts of State legis- 
lation. It is a community, which any man may regard as a 
subject of just pride to represent, rivalled by none in orderly and 
moral habits, general intelligence, commercial and mechanic 
skill, a spirit of national enterprise, and above all a vigilance 
for the interest of posterity manifested in the provision made for 
public education. No state of society can be found more happy 
and attractive than yours. Many of those who are in its first 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 317 

ranks rose from humble beginnings, and hold out encourage- 
ment to others to follow their steps. There is, so far as I can 
judge, more real equality, and a more general acquaintance and 
intercourse among the different vocations, than is elsewhere to 
be found in a populous city. Those of the middling class as 
respects wealth, the mechanics and the workingmen, are not 
only eligible, but constantly elected to all offices in state and 
city, in such proportion as they (constituting the great majority) 
see fit to assign. We enjoy the blessings of a healthy climate, 
delightful position, and ample resources for prosperity in com- 
merce, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, all of which, I am 
persuaded, are at this moment gradually reviving, after some 
vicissitude from time and chance, which happen to all things. 
May we, and those who will succeed us, appreciate the respon- 
sibleness attached to our places by the merit of our predeces- 
sors; and, though we cannot serve our country to the same 
advantage, may we love it with equal fidelity. And may the 
Guardian Genius of om- beloved city forever delight to dwell in 
these renovated walls I 



27' 



CHAPTER XXII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mai/or. 

Address to the Citizens of Boston, on the 17th of September, 18.30, the Close of 
the Second Century from the First Settlement of the City. By Josiah 
Quincy, President of Harvard University. 

Of all the affections of man, those which connect him with 
ancestry are among the most natural and generous. They 
enlarge the sphere of his interests ; multiply his motives to 
virtue ; and give intensity to his sense of duty to generations to 
come, by the perception of obligation to those which are past. 
In whatever mode of existence man finds himself, be it savage 
or civilized, he perceives that he is indebted for the far greater 
part of his possessions and enjoyments, to events over which he 
had no control ; to individuals, whose names, perhaps, never 
reached his ear ; to sacrifices, in which he never shared ; and 
to sufferings, awakening in his bosom few and very transient 
sympathies. 

Cities and empires, not less than individuals, are chiefly 
indebted for their fortunes to cu'cumstances and influences inde- 
pendent of the labors and wisdom of the passing generation. 
Is our lot cast in a happy soil, beneath a favored sky, and 
under the shelter of free institutions ? How few of all these 
blessings do we owe to our own power, or our own prudence! 
How few, on which we cannot discern the impress of long past 
generations ! 

It is natural, that reflections of this kind should awaken curi- 
osity concerning the men of past ages. It is suitable, and 
characteristic of noble natures, to love to trace in venerated 
institutions the evidences of ancestral worth and wisdom ; and 
to cherish that mingled sentiment of awe and admiration, which 
takes possession of the soul, in the presence of ancient, deep- 
laid, and massy monuments of intellectual and moral power. 



CITY GOVEKmiENT. 319 

Under impulses thus natural and generous, at the invitation 
of your municipal authorities, you have assembled, Citizens of 
Boston, on this day, in commemoration of the era of the found- 
ation of your city, bearing in fond recollection the virtues of 
your fathers, to pass in review the circumstances which formed 
their character, and the institutions which bear its stamp ; to 
take a rapid survey of that broad horizon, which is resplendent 
with their glories ; to compress, within the narrow circle of an 
hour, the results of memory, perception, and hope ; combining 
honor to the past, gratitude for the present, and fidelity to the 
future. 

Standing, after the lapse of two centuries, on the very spot 
selected for us by our fathers, and surrounded by social, moral, 
and religious blessings greater than paternal love, in its fondest 
visions, ever dared to fancy, we naturally turn our eyes back- 
ward, on the descending current of years ; seeking the causes of 
that prosperity, which has given this city so distinguished a 
name and rank among similar associations of men. 

Happily its foundations were not laid in dark ages, nor is its 
origin to be sought among loose and obscure traditions. The 
age of our early ancestors was, in many respects, eminent for 
learning and civilization. Our ancestors themselves were deeply 
versed in the knowledge and attainments of their period. Not 
only their motives and acts appear in the general histories of 
their time, but they are unfolded in their own writings, with a 
simplicity and boldness, at once commanding admiration and 
not permitting mistake. If this condition of things restrict the 
imagination in its natural tendency to exaggerate, it assists the 
judgment rightly to analyze, and justly to appreciate. If it 
deny the power, enjoyed by ancient cities and states, to elevate 
our ancestors above the condition of humanity, it confers a much 
more precious privilege, that of estimating by unequivocal stand- 
ards the intellectual and moral greatness of the early, interven- 
ing, and passing periods ; and thus of judging concerning com- 
parative attainment and progress in those qualities which con- 
stitute the dignity of our species. Instead of looking back, as 
antiquity was accustomed to do, on fabling legends of giants 
and heroes, — of men exceeding in size, in strength, and in 
labor, all experience and history, and consequently, being obliged 
to contemplate the races of men, dwindhng with time, and 



320 ^lUXICIPAL HISTORY. 

growing less amid increasing stimulants and advantages ; we 
are thus enabled to view things in lights more conformed to the 
natural suggestions of reason, and the actual results of observa- 
tion ; — to witness improvement in its slow but sure progress ; 
in a general advance, constant and unquestionable ; — to pay 
due honors to the greatness and virtues of our early ancestors, 
and be, at the same time, just to the not inferior greatness and 
virtues of succeeding generations of men, their descendants and 
our progenitors. Thus we substantiate the cheering conviction, 
that the virtues of ancient times have not been lost, or debased, 
in the course of their descent, but, in many respects^ have been 
refined and elevated ; and so, standing faithful to the generations 
which are past, and fearless in the presence of the generations to 
come, we accumulate on our own times the responsibility, that 
an inheritance, which has descended to us enlarged and im- 
proved, shall not be transmitted by us diminished or deteriorated. 
As our thoughts course along the events of past times, from 
the hour of the first settlement of Boston to that in which we 
are now assembled, they trace the strong features of its charac- 
ter, indelibly impressed upon its acts and in its history, — clear 
conceptions of duty ; bold vindications of right ; readiness to 
incur dangers and meet sacrifices, in the maintenance of liberty, 
civil and religious. Early selected as the place of the chief 
settlement of New England, it has, through every subsequent 
period, maintained its relative ascendency. In the arts of peace 
and in the energies of war, in the virtues of prosperity and 
adversity, in wisdom to plan and vigor to execute, in extensive- 
ness of enterprise, success in accumulating wealth, and liberality 
in its distribution, its inhabitants, if not unrivalled, have not 
been surpassed, by any similar society of men. Through good 
report and evil report, its influence has at all times been so dis- 
tinctly seen and acknowledged in events, and been so decisive 
on the destinies of the region of which it was the head, that the 
inhabitants of the adjoining colonies of a foreign nation early 
gave the name of this place to the whole country ; and at this 
day, among their descendants, the people of the whole United 
States 1 are distinguished by the name of " Bostonians." 

1 Bostonais. The name is thus applied, at this day, by the Canadian French. 
During our llevolutiouary War, Americans from the United States were thus 
desii^nated in France. Nor was the custom wholly discontinued even as late as 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 321 

Amidst perils and obstructions, on the bleak side of the 
mountain on which it was first cast, the seedling oak, self- 
rooted, shot upward with a determined vigor. Now slighted 
and now assailed ; amidst alternating sunshine and storm ; with 
the axe of a native foe at its root, and the lightning of a foreign 
power, at times, scathing its top, or withering its branches, it 
gi'ew, it flourished, it stands — may it forever stand ! — the 
honor of the field. 

On this occasion, it is proper to speak of the founders of our 
city, and of their glory. Now in its true acceptation, the term 
glon/ expresses the splendor, which emanates from virtue in the 
act of producing general and permanent good. Right concep- 
tions, then, of the glory of our ancestors, are alone to be attained 
by analyzing their virtues. These virtues, indeed, are not seen 
charactered in breathing bronze, or in living marble. Our ances- 
tors have left no Corinthian temples on our hills, no Gothic 
cathedrals on our plains, no proud pyramid, no storied obelisk, 
in our cities. But mind is there. Sagacious enterprise is there. 
An active, vigorous, intelligent, moral population throng our 
cities, and predominate in our fields ; men, patient of labor, 
submissive to law, respectful to authority, regardful of right, 
faithful to liberty. These are the monuments of our ancestors. 
They stand immutable and immortal, in the social, moral, and 
intellectual condition of their descendants. They exist in the 
spirit which their precepts instilled, and their example implanted. 
Let no man think, that, to analyze and place in a just light the 
virtues of the first settlers of New England, is a departure from 
the purpose of this celebration ; or deem so meanly of our 
duties, as to conceive that merely local relations, the circum- 
stances which have given celebrity and character to this single 
city, are the only, or the most appropriate topics for the occa- 
sion. It was to this spot, during twelve successive years, that 
the great body of those first settlers emigrated. In this place, 
they either fixed permanently their abode, or took their depart- 
ure from it for the coast, or the interior. Whatever honor 
devolves on this metropolis from the events connected with its 

tlie year 1795. "We may remark," says a writer in the Collections^ of the 
Massachusetts Historical Societi/^ (Vol. vi., First Series, p. 69,) "that Boston 
was not only the capital of Massachusetts, but the town most celebrated of any 
in North America. Its trade was extensive ; and the name often stands for the 
country in old authors." 



322 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

first settlement, is not solitary or exclusive ; it is shared with 
Massachusetts ; with New England ; in some sense, with the 
whole United States. For what part of this wide empire, be it 
sea or shore, lake or river, mountain or valley, have the descend- 
ants of the first settlers of New England not traversed ? what 
depth of forest, not penetrated ? what danger of nature or man, 
not defied ? Where is the cultivated field, in redeeming which 
from the wilderness, their vigor has not been displayed ? Where, 
amid unsubdued nature, by the side of the first log hut of the 
settler, does the school-house stand and the church spire rise, 
unless the sons of New England are there ? Where does im- 
provement advance, under the active energy of willing hearts 
and ready hands, prostrating the moss-covered monarchs of the 
wood, and from their ashes, amid their charred roots, bidding the 
greensward and the waving harvest to upspring, and the spirit 
of the fathers of New England is not seen, hovering, and shed- 
ding around the benign influences of sound, social, moral, and reli- 
gious institutions, stronger and more enduring than knotted oak, 
or tempered steel ? The swelling tide of their descendants has 
spread upon our coasts ; ascended our rivers ; taken possession 
of our plains. Already it encircles our lakes. At this hour the 
•rushing noise of the advancing wave startles the wild beast in 
his lair among the prairies of the West. Soon it shall be seen 
climbing the Rocky Mountains ; and, as it dashes over their 
cliffs, shall be hailed by the dwellers on the Pacific, as the har- 
binger of the coming blessings of safety, liberty, and truth. 

The glory, which belongs to the virtues of our ancestors, is 
seen radiating from the nature of their design ; from the spirit 
in which it was executed ; and from the character of their insti- 
tutions. 

That emigi-ation of Englishmen, which, two centuries ago, 
resulted in the settlement, on this day, of this metropolis, was 
distinguished by the comparative greatness of the means em- 
ployed, and the number, rank, fortune, and intellectual endow- 
ments of those engaged in it, as leaders, or associates. Twelve 
ships, transporting somewhat less than nine hundred souls, 
constituted the physical srtrength of the first enterprise. In the 
course of the twelve succeeding years, twenty-two thousand 
souls emigrated in one hundred and ninety-two ships, at a cost, 
including the private expenses of the adventurers, which cannot 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 823 

be estimated in our currency, at less than one million of dollars. 
At that time the tide of emigration was stayed. Intelligent 
writers of the last century assert, that more persons had subse- 
quently gone from New England to Europe, than had come to 
it during the same period from that quarter of the globe. A 
cotemporary historian ^ represents the leaders of the first emigra- 
tion, as " gentlemen of good estate and reputation, descended 
from, or connected by marriage with, noble famihes; having 
large means, and great yearly revenue sufficient in all reason to 
content ; their tables abundant in food, their coffers in coin ; 
possessing beautiful houses, filled with rich furniture ; gainful in 
their business, and growing rich daily ; well provided for them- 
selves, and having a sure competence for their children ; want- 
ing nothing of a worldly nature to complete the prospects of ease 
and enjoyment, or which could contribute to the pleasures, the 
prospects, or the splendors of life." 

The question forces itself on the mind. Why did such men 
emigrate ? Why did men of their condition exchange a plea- 
sant and prosperous home for a repulsive and cheerless wilder- 
ness ; a civilized for a barbarous vicinity ? Why, quitting 
peaceful and happy dwellings, dare the dangers of tempestuous 
and unexplored seas, the rigors of vmtried and severe climates, 
the difficulties of a hard soil, and the inhuman warfare of a 
savage foe ? An answer must be sought in the character of the 
times; and in the spirit, which the condition of their native 
country and age had a direct tendency to excite and cherish. 

The general civil and religious aspect of the English nation, 
in the age of our ancestors, and in that immediately preceding 
their emigration, was singularly hateful and repulsive. A foreign 
hierarchy, contending with a domestic despotism for infallibility 
and supremacy, in matters of faith. Confiscation, imprison- 
ment, the axe and the stake, approved and customary means 
of making proselytes and promoting uniformity. The fires of 
Smithfield, now lighted by the corrupt and selfish zeal of Roman 
pontiffs ; and now rekindled, by the no less corrupt and seffish 
zeal of English sovereigns. All men clamorous for the rights 
of conscience, when in subjection; all actively persecuting, 
when in authority. Everywhere religion considered as a state 

1 Jolinson's ^^Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour in Aew Eng- 
land," ch. 12. 



324 MUNICIPAL fflSTORY. 

entity, and having apparently no real existence, except in asso- 
ciations in support of established power, or in opposition to it. 

The moral aspect of the age was not less odious than its 
civil. Every benign and characteristic virtue of Christianity 
was publicly conjoined, in close alliance with its most offensive 
opposite. Humility wearing the tiara, and brandishing the 
keys, in the excess of the pride of temporal and spiritual power. 
The Roman pontiff, under the title of "the servant of ■ servants," 
with his foot on the neck of every monarch in Christendom ; 
and under the seal of the fisherman of Galilee, dethroning kings 
and giving away kingdoms. Purity, content, and self-denial 
preached by men, who held the wealth of Europe tributary to 
then- luxury, sensuality, and spiritual pride. Brotherly love in 
the mouth, while the hand applied the instrument of torture. 
Charity, mutual forbearance, and forgiveness chanted in unison 
with clanking chains and crackling fagots. 

Nor was the intellectual aspect of the age less repulsive than 
its civil and moral. The native charm of the religious feeling 
lost, or disfigured amidst forms, and ceremonies, and disciplines. 
By one class, piety was identified with copes, and crosiers, and 
tippets, and genuflexions. By another class, all these were 
abhorred as the tricks and conjuring garments of popery, or at 
best, in the language of Calvin, as " tolerable fooleries ; " while 
they, on their part, identified jnety with looks, and language, 
and gestures, extracted or typified from Scripture, and fashioned 
according to the newest "pattern of the mount." By none 
were the rights of private judgment acknowledged. By all, 
creeds, and dogmas, and confessions, and catechisms, collected 
from Scripture with metaphysical skill, arranged with reference 
to temporal power and influence, and erected into standards of 
faith, were made the fiags and rallying points of the spiritual 
swordsmen of the church militant. 

The first emotion, which this view of that period excites, at 
the present day, is contempt or disgust. But the men of that 
age are no more responsible for the mistakes into which they 
fell, under the circumstances in which the intellectual eye 
was then placed, than we, at this day, for those optical illusions 
to which the natural eye is subject, before time and experience 
have corrected the judgment, and instructed it in the true laws 
of nature and vision. It was their fate to live in the crepuscular 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 325 

state of the intellectual day, and by the law of their nature they 
were compelled to see things darkly, through false and shifting 
mediums, and in lights at once dubious and deceptive. For 
centuries, a night of Egyptian darkness had overspread Europe, 
in the " palpable obscure " of which, priests and monarchs and 
nobles had not only found means to inthral the minds of the 
multitude, but absolutely to lose and bewilder their own. When 
the light of learning began to dawn, the first rays of the rising 
splendor dazzled and confused, rather than directed the mind. 
As the coming light penetrated the thick darkness, the ancient 
cumulative cloud severed into new forms. Its broken masses 
became tinged with an uncertain and shifting radiance. Sha- 
dows assumed the aspect of substances ; the evanescent sugges- 
tions of fancy, the look of fixed realities. The wise were at a 
loss what to believe, or what to discredit; how to quit, and 
where to hold. On all sides sprang up sects and parties, infinite 
in number, incomprehensible in doctrine ; often imperceptible in 
difference ; yet each claiming for itself infallibility, and, in the 
sphere it affected to influence, supremacy; each violent and 
hostile to the others, haughty and hating its non-adhering 
brother, in a spirit wholly repugnant to the humility and love 
inculcated by that religion, by which each pretended to be actu- 
ated ; and ready to resort, when it had power, to corporal penal- 
ties, even to death itself, as allowed modes of self-defence and 
proselytism. 

It was the fate of the ancestors of New England to have their 
lot cast in a state of society thus unprecedented. They were 
of that class of the English nation, in whom the systematic per- 
secutions of a concentrated, civil, and ecclesiastical despotism 
had enkindled an intense interest concerning man's social and 
religious rights. Then- sufferings had created in their minds a 
vivid and inextinguishable love of civil and religious liberty ; a 
fixed resolve, at every peril, to assert and maintain their natural 
rights. Among the boldest and most intelligent of this class of 
men, chiefly known by the name of Puritans, were the founders 
of this meti-opolis. To a superficial view, their zeal seems 
directed to forms and ceremonies and disciphnes which have 
become at this day obsolete or modified, and so seems mistaken 
or misplaced. But the wisdom of zeal for any object is not to 
be measured by the particular nature of that object, but by the 
28 



326 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

nature of the principle, which the cii-cum stances of the times or 
of society have identified with such object. Liberty, whether 
civil or religious, is among the noblest objects of human regard. 
Yet, to a being constituted like man, abstract liberty has no 
existence, and over him no practical influence. To be for him 
an efficient principle of action, it must be embodied in some 
sensible object. Thus, the form of a cap, the color of a surplice, 
ship-money, a tax on tea or on stamped paper, objects in them- 
selves indifferent, have been so inseparably identified with the 
principle temporarily connected with them, that martyrs have 
died at the stake, and patriots have fallen in the field, and this 
wisely and nobly for the sake of the principle, made by the cir- 
cumstances of the time to inhere in them. 

Now, in the age of our fathers, the principle of civil and reli- 
gious liberty became identified with forms, discipHnes, and 
modes of worship. The zeal of our fathers was graduated by 
the importance of the inhering principle. This gave elevation 
to that zeal. This creates interest in their suff'erings. This 
entitles them to rank among patriots and martyi's who have 
voluntarily sacrificed themselves to the cause of conscience and 
their country. Indignant at being denied the enjoyment of the 
rio-hts of conscience, which were in that age identified with those 
sensible objects, and resolute to vindicate them, they quitted 
country and home, crossed the Atlantic, and, without other 
auspices than their own strength and their confidence in heaven, 
they proceeded to lay the foundation of a commonwealth, under 
the principles, and by the stamina of which, their posterity have 
established an actual and uncontroverted independence, not less 
happy than glorious. To their enthusiastic vision all the com- 
forts of life and all the pleasm-es of society were light and worth- 
less in comparison with the liberty they sought. The tempest- 
uous sea was less dreadful than the troubled waves of civil dis- 
cord ; the quicksands, the unknown shoals, and unexplored 
shores of a savage coast, less fearful than the metaphysical 
abysses and perpetually shifting whnlpools of despotic ambi- 
tion and ecclesiastical policy and intrigue; the bow and the 
tomahawk of the transatlantic barbarian, less terrible than the 
flame and fagot of the civilized European. In the calm of our 
present peace and prosperity, it is difficult for us to realize or 
appreciate their sorrows and sacrifices. They sought a new 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 327 

world, lying far off in space, destitute of all the attractions which 
make home and native land dear and venerable. Instead of 
cultivated fields and a civilized neighborhood, the prospect before 
them presented nothing but dreary wastes, cheerless climates, 
and repulsive wildernesses possessed by wild beasts and sava- 
ges ; the intervening ocean unexplored and intersected by the 
fleets of a hostile nation ; its usual dangers multiplied to the 
fancy, and, in fact, by ignorance of real hazards and natural 
fears of such as the event proved to be imaginary. 

" Pass on," exclaims one of these adventurers,^ " and attend, 
while these soldiers of faith ship for this western world ; while 
they and their wives and their little ones take an eternal leave 
of their country and kindred. With what heart-breaking affec- 
tion did they press loved friends to their bosoms whom they 
were never to see again ! their voices broken by grief, till tears 
streaming eased their hearts to recovered speech again ; natural 
affections clamorous, as they take a perpetual banishment from 
their native soil ; their enterprise scorned ; their motives derided ; 
and they counted but madmen and fools. But time shall dis- 
cover the wisdom with which they were endued, and the sequel 
shall show how their policy overtopped aU the human policy of 
this world." 

Winthrop, their leader and historian, in his simple narrative 
of the voyage, exhibits them, when in severe sufferings, resigned ; 
in instant expectation of battle, fearless ; amid storm, sickness, 
and death, calm, confident, and undismayed. " Our trust," says 
he, " was in the Lord of hosts." For years, Winthrop, the 
leader of the first great enterprise, was the Chief Magistrate of 
the infant metropolis. His prudence guided its councils. His 
valor directed its strength. His life and fortune were spent in 
fixing its character, or in improving its destinies. A bolder 
spirit never dwelt, a truer heart never beat in any bosom. Had 
Boston, like Rome, a consecrated calendar, there is no name 
better entitled than that of Winthrop to be registered as its 
" patron saint." 

From Salem and Charlestown, the places of their first land- 
ing, they ranged the Bay of IMassachusetts to fix the head of the 
settlement. After much deliberation, and not without opposi- 

1 Johnson, in lils Wonder-Workinfj Providences of Sion's Saviour in New 
England, ch. xii. 



328 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

tion, they selected this spot, known to the natives by the name 
of Shaw milt, and to the adjoining settlers by that of Trimounl- 
ain ; the former indicating the abundance and sweetness of its 
waters ; the latter, the peculiar character of its hills. 

Accustomed as we are to the beauties of the place and its 
vicinity, and in the daily perception of the charms of its almost 
unrivalled scenery, — in the centre of a natural amphitheatre, 
whose sloping descents the riches of a laborious and intellectual 
cultivation adorn, — where hill and vale, river and ocean, island 
and continent, simple nature and unobtrusive art, with con- 
trasted and interchanging harmonies, form a rich and gorgeous 
landscape, we are little able to realize the almost repulsive 
aspect of its original state. We wonder at the blindness of 
those who, at one time, constituted the majority, and had well- 
nigh fixed elsewhere the chief seat of the settlement. Nor are 
we easily just to Winthrop, Johnson, and their associates, whose 
skill and judgment selected this spot, and whose firmness settled 
the wavering minds of the multitude upon it, as the place for 
their metropolis ; a decision which the experience of two centu- 
ries has irrevocably justified, and which there is no reason to 
apprehend that the events or opinions of any centmy to come 
will reverse. 

To the eyes of the first emigrants, however, where now exists 
a dense and aggregated mass of living beings and material 
things, amid all the accommodations of life, the splendors of 
wealth, the delights of taste, and whatever can gratify the culti- 
vated intellect, there were then only a few hills, w^hich, when the 
ocean receded, were intersected by wide marshes, and when its 
tide returned, appeared a group of lofty islands, abruptly rising 
from the surrounding waters. Thick forests concealed the 
neighboring hills, and the deep silence of nature was broken 
only by the voice of the wild beast or bird and the warwhoop of 
the savage. 

The advantages of the place were, however, clearly marked 
by the hand of nature ; combining at once present convenience, 
future security, and an ample basis for permanent growth and 
prosperity. Towards the continent it possessed but a single 
avenue, and that easily fortified. Its hills then commanded, not 
only its own Avaters, but the hills of the vicinity. At the bottom 
of a deep bay, its harbor was capable of containing the proudest 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 329 

navy of Europe ; yet, locked by islands, and guarded by wind- 
ing channels, it presented great difficulty of access to strangers, 
and to the inhabitants gi*eat facility of protection against mari- 
time invasion ; while to those acquainted with its waters, it was 
both easy and accessible. To these advantages were added 
goodness and plenteousness of water, and the security afforded 
by that once commanding height, now, alas! obliterated and 
almost forgotten, since art and industry have levelled the predo- 
minating mountain of the place ; from whose lofty and impos- 
ing top the beacon fire was accustomed to rally the neighboring 
population on any threatened danger to the metropolis. A sin- 
gle cottage, from which ascended the smoke of the hospitable 
hearth of Blackstone, who had occupied the ])eninsula several 
years, was the sole civilized mansion in the solitude ; the kind 
master of which, at first, welcomed the coming emigrants ; but 
soon, disliking the sternness of then* manners and the severity of 
their discipline, abandoned the settlement. His rights, as first 
occupant, were recognized by om* ancestors ; and, in November, 
1634, Edmund Quincy, Samuel Wildbore, and others, were 
authorized to assess a rate of thirty pounds for IVIr. Blackstone,i 
on the payment of which all local rights in the peninsula became 
vested in its inhabitants. 

The same bold spirit which thus led our ancestors across the 
Atlantic, and made them prefer a wilderness where liberty might 
be enjoyed, to civilized Europe where it was denied, will be 
found characterizing all their institutions. Of these, the limits 
of the time permit me to speak only in general terms. The 
scope of their policy has been usually regarded as though it were 
restricted to the acquisition of religious liberty in the relation of 
colonial dependence. No man, however, can truly understand 
then- institutions and the policy on which they were founded, 
without taking as the basis of aU reasonings concerning them, 
that civil independence ivas as truly their object as religious 
liberty;^ in other words, that the possession of the former was, 

1 Winthrop, vol. i. p. 45 ; note by J. Savage. 

2 The testimony of Chalmers, in his Political Annals of the United Colonies, 
to the early and undeviating spirit of independence which actuated the first 
emigrants to Massachusetts, is constant, unequivocal, and conclusive. Those 
annals were written during the American Revolution, and published in the year 
1 780, in the heat of that controversy, and under the auspices of the British 
government. A few exti-acts from that work, tending to show the pertinacious 

28* 



330 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

in their opinion, the essential means, indispensable to the secure 
enjoyment of the latter, which was their great end. 

The master-passion of our early ancestors was dread of the 

spirit of independence wliieli cliaraeterized our ancestors, and corroborative of 
the position maintained in the text, cannot fail to be interesting. 

"The charter of Charles I., obtained in March, 1628-9, was the only one 
■which Massachusetts possessed prior to the Revolution of 1688, and contained its 
most ancient privileges. On this was most dexterously engrafted, not only the ori- 
ginal government of that colony, hut even independence itself." Book I. c. vi. 
p. 136. 

" The nature of their goveriuncnt was now (1634) changed by a variety of 
reo-ulations, the legality of which cannot easily be supported by any other than 
those principles of independence which sprang up among them, and have at all 
times governed their actions." Book I. p. 158. 

Concerning the confederation entered into by the United Colonies of New 
England in 1643, Chalmers thus expresses himself. 

''^The most inattentive must perceive the exact resemblance that confedera- 
tion bears to a similar junction of the Colonies, more recent, [that of 1775] 
extensive, and powerful. Both originated from Massachusetts, always fruitful in 
projects of independence. Wise men at the era of both remarked, that those 
memorable associations established a complete system of absohde sovereignty, 
because the principles upon tchich it was erected necessarily led to what 
it was xot the policy of the principal agents at either period to 
avow! 

" The principles upon which this famous association [that of 1643] was formed, 
were altogether tliose of independency, and it cannot easily be supported on 
any other? The consent of the governing powers in England was never applied 
for, and was never given." Book I. c. viii. pp. 177, 178. 

" Principles of aggrandisement seem constantly to have been had in view by 
Massachusetts, as the only rule of its conduct." Book I. p. 180. 

" Massachusetts, in conformity to its accustomed principles, acted, during the 
civil wars, ahnost altogether as an independent state. It formed leagues, not 
only with the neighboring colonies, but with foreign nations, without the con- 
sent or knowledge of the government of England. It permitted no appeals 
from its courts to the judicatories of the sovereign State, without which a depend- 
ence cannot be preserved or enforced ; and it refused to exercise its jurisdic- 
tion in the name of the Commonwealth of England. It assumed the goverimient 
of that part of New England which is now called New Hampshire, and even 
extended its power farther eastward over the Province of Maine; and, by force 
of arms, it compelled those who had fled from Its persecutions beyond its bound- 
aries into the wilderness to submit to Its authority. It erected a mint at Boston, 
impressing the year 1652 on the coin, as the era of independence. Though, as 
we are assured, the coining of money is the prerogative of the sovereign, and not 
the privilege of a colony. 

" The practice was continued till the dissolutien of its government ; thus 
evincing to all what had been foreseen by the wise, that a people of such principles, 
religious and political, settling at so great a distance from control, loould necessarily 
form an independent State." Book I. c. viii. p. 181. 

" The Committee of State of the Long Parliament having resolved to oblige 
Massachusetts to acknowledge their authority, by taking a new patent from them, 
and by keeping its courts m their name, that Colony, according to its wonted 
policy, by petition and remonstrance, declaring the love they bore the Parlia- 
ment, the suflerlngs they had endured in their cause, and their readiness to 
stand or fall with them, and by flattering Cromwell, prevailed so far as that the 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 331 

English hierarchy. To place themselves locally beyond the 
reach of its power, they resolved to eraigi-ate. To secure them- 
selves, after their emigration, from the arm of this their ancient 

requisitions above-mentioned were never complied with, and the General Court 
consequently gained the point in the controversy." Book I. c. viii. pp. 184, 185. 

" But Massachusetts did not only thus artfully foil the Parliament, but it out- 
fawned and outwitted Cromwell. They declined his invitation to assist his fleet 
and army, destined to attack the Dutch at ^Manhattan, in 1(J53, and acknowledo-- 
ing the continued series of his favors to the Colonies, told him, that, " haruuj 
been exercised ivUli .serious thoughts of its duty at that juncture, which were, that it 
was most agreeable to the gospel of peace, and safest for the plantations to forbear 
the use of the sword, li'it had been misled, it humbly craved his pardon." 13ook I. 
c. viii. p. 185. 

" Theaddi-ess of Massachusetts above-mentioned, it should seem, gave perfect 
satisfaction to Cromwell. Its winning courtship seems to have captivated his 
rugged heart, and, notwithstanding a variety of complaints were made to him 
against that Colony, so strong were his attachments, that all attempts, either to 
obtain redress, or to prejudice it in his esteem, were to no purpose. Thus did 
Massachusetts, by the prudence or vigor of its councils, triumjih over its oppo- 
nents abroad." Book I. c. viii. p. 188. 

"After the death of Cromwell, Massachusetts acted with a cautious neutrality. 
She refused to acknowledge the authority of Richard anymore than that of tJie Par- 
liament or Protector, because all submission would have been incox- 

SISTENT WITH HER INDEPENDENCE." 

" She heard the tidings of the restoration with that scrupulous incredulity, with 
which men listen to news which they wish not to be true." Book I. ex. p. 249. 

" Prince Charles II. had received so many proofs of the attachment of the 
Colonies, during the season of trial, JVew England only excepted, that he judged 
rightly, when he presumed they would listen to the news of his restoration with 
pleasure, and submit to his just authority with alacrit3^ Nor was he in the least 
deceived. They proclaimed his accession with a joy in proportion to their recol- 
lection of their late suiTerings, and to their hope of future blessings. Of the 
recent conduct of Massachusetts, he was well instructed ; he foresaw what really 
happened, that it Avould receive the tidings of his good fortune with extreme 
coldness ; he was informed of the proceedings of a society which assembled at 
Cooper's Hall in order to promote its interests, and with them, the good old cause 
of enmity to regal power. And in May, 16G1, he appointed the great ofBcers of 
state a committee, ' touching the affairs of New England.' That Prince and 
Colony mutually hated and contemned and feared each other, during his reign, 
because the one suspected its principles of attachment, and the other dreaded an 
invasion of its privileges." Book I. p. 243. 

" The same vessel which brought King Charles's proclamation to Boston, in 
1660, brought also ^^^lalley and Goffe, two of the regicides. Far from conceal- 
ing themselves, they were received very courteously by Governor Endicott, 
and with universal regard by the people of New England. Of this conduct, 
Charles II. was perfectly informed, and with it he afterwards reproached ]\Iassa- 
chusetts." Book I. c. x. pp. 249,. 250. 

" The General Court soon turned its attention to a subject of higher concern- 
ment, — the present condition of affairs. In order rightly to understand that 
dut}" which the people owed to themselves, and that obedience which was due 
to the authority of England, a committee at length reported a declaration of 
rights and duties, which at once shows the extent of their claims, and their dex- 
terity at involving what they wished to conceal. The General Court resolved, 
' That the patent (under God) was the first and main foundation of the civil 
polity of that Colony ; that the Governor and Comi^any arc, by the patent, a 



332 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

oppressor, they devised a plan, which, as they thought, would 
enable them to establish, under a nominal subjection, an actual 
independence. The bold and original conception which they 
had the spirit to form and successfully to execute, was the 
attainment and perpetuation of religious liberty, under the 
auspices of a free commonwealth.^ This is the master key 
to all their policy ; this the glorious spirit which breathes in all 
their institutions. Whatever in them is stern, exclusive, or at 
this day seems questionable, may be accounted for, if not justi- 
fied, by its connection with this great purpose. 

body politic, wliich is vested -with power to make freemen ; that they have 
authority to choose a governor, deputy-governor, assistants, and select represent- 
atives ; "that this government hath ability to set up all kinds of offices ; that the 
governor, deputy-governor, assistants, and select deputies, have full juris- 
diction, i)oth legislative and executive, for the government of the people 
here, •without appeals, ' excepting law or laws repugnant to the laws of Eng- 
land ; ' that this Company is privileged to defend itself against all who shall 
attempt its annoyance ; that any imposition, prejudicial to the country, contrary 
to any of its just ordinances (not repugnant to the laws of England) is an 
infringement of its rights.' Having thus, with a genuine air of sovereignty, by 
its own act, established its own privileges, it decided ' concerning its duties and 
allegiance ; ' and these were declared to consist in upholding that Colony as of 
right belonging to his Majesty, and not subject to any foreign potentate ; in pre- 
serving his person and dominions ; in settling the peace and prosperity of the 
king and nation, by punishing crimes and by propagating the gospel. It was at 
the same time determined, that the royal warrant for apprehending Whalley and 
Gofte ought to be faithfully executed ; that if any legally obnoxious, and fleeing 
from the civil justice of the state of England, shall come over to these parts, they 
may not expect shelter.' "VVliat a picture do these resolutions display of the 
embarrassments of the General Court, between its principles of independence on 
the one hand, and its apprehension of giving offence to the state of England on 
the other." Book I. p. 252. 

" During the whole reign of Charles H. IMassachusetts continued to act as she 
ahcat/a had done, as an independent state. 

'• Disregarding equally her charter and the laws of England, Massachusetts 
estahlished for herself an independerd government, similar to those of the Grecian 
repuUics." Book I. c. xvi. p. 400 ; also c. xxii. p. G82. 

It is not easy to perceive on what ground Chalmers supports the charge 
against our ancestors of " concealment " of their real intentions by the General 
Court, in their declaration of rights above quoted, from page 252 of his Annals. 
On the contrary, it seems to have been conceived in a spirit of boldness, which, 
considering the weakness of the Colony, might be much better denominated 
imprudently explicit than evasive. It is difficult to conceive what the General 
Court could have added to that declaration of their right to independent self- 
government, unless they had been prepared to draw the sword against the Iving, 
and throw away the scabbard. 

1 This is apparent from the fact, that they did form and maintain such a com- 
monv/ealth, and from the further fact, that in no other way could they, in that 
age, have had any liope successfully to maintain and transmit to their posterity 
religious liberty, according to their conception of tliat blessing. Those who rea- 
son practically concerning the motives of mankind, must take their data from 
tlieir master-passions and the necessities of their situation. Acts best develop 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 333 

The question has often been raised, when and by whom the 
idea of independence of the parent state was first conceived, and 
by whose act a settled purpose to effect it was first indicated. 
History does not permit the people of Massachusetts to make 
a question of this kind. The honor of that thought, and of as 
efficient a declaration of it as in their circumstances was pos- 
sible, belongs to Winthrop, and Dudley, and Saltonstall, and 
their associates, and was included in the declaration, that " the 
only condition on which they icith their families ivoiild remove to 
this country, icas, that the patent and charter should remove ivith 
them." 1 

intentions. Official language takes its modification from circumstances, and is 
often necessarily a very equivocal indication of motives. 

To escape from the dominion of the English hierarchy, was our ancestors lead- 
inf design and firm purpose. They took refuge in the forms and principles of a 
commonwealth ; trusting to their own intellectual skill and physical power for its 
support. They were well apprised of the fixed determination of the English 
hierarchy, from the earliest times of their emigration, to subject them to its 
supremacy, if possible ; and this design is distinctly avowed by Chalmers. 

" The enjoyment of liberty of conscience, the free worship of the Supreme 
Being in the manner most agreeable to themselves, were the great objects of the 
colonists, which they often declared was the principal end of their emigration. 
Nevertheless, though their historians assert the contrarj', the charter did not 
grant spontaneniixhj to them a freedom, which had been denied to the solicitations 
of the Brownists ; and it is extremely probable that so essential an omission 
arose, not from accident, hut design. 

" In conformit}' to his intentions of estabhshing the Church of England in the 
plantations, .Tames had refused to grant to that sect the privilege of exercising 
its own peculiar modes, though solicited by the powerful interest of the Virginia 
Company. His successor adopted and pursued the same policy, under the direction 
of Laud, ' ivho, tee are assured, kept a jealous eije over Neto England.' And this 
reasoning is confirmed hg the preseid patent, which required, with peculiar caution, 
that ' THE OATH OF SUPREMACY shull he administered to every one, ivho shall 
jmss to the Colony and inhahit there.'" Book I. e. vi. p. 141. 

^ The consentaneousness of the views entertained by Chahners, with those 
presented in the text, respecting the motives of our ancestors in making the 
removal of the charter the condition of their emigration, is remarkable. 

" Several persons of c'onsiderable consequence in the nation, who had adopted 
the principles of the Puritans, and who wished to enjoy their own mode of wor- 
ship, formed the resolution of emigrating to ]\Iassachusetts. But they felt them- 
selves inferior, neither to the governor nor assistants of the company. They saw 
and dreaded the inconvenience of being governed by laics made for them icithout 
their consent ; and it appeared more rational to them, that the colony should he 
ruled by those who made it the place of their residence, than by men dwelling at 
the distance of three thousand miles, over whom they had no control. At the 
same time, therefore, that they proposed to transport themselves, their famihes, 
and their estates, to that country, they insisted that the charter should be trans- 
mitted with them, and tliat the corporate powers, which were conferred by it, 
should be executed, in future, in New England." 

" A transaction, similar to this, in all its circumstances, is not to be easily met 
with in story." — Book I. c. vi. pp. 1.50, 151. 

It is very" plain, from the above extract, that Chalmers understood the transfer 



334 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

This simple declaration and resolve included, as they had the 
sagacity to perceive, all the consequences of an effectual inde- 
pendence, under a nominal subjection. For protection against 
foreign powers, a charter from the parent state was necessary. 
Its transfer to New England vested, effectually, independence. 
Those wise leaders foresaw,^ that, among the troubles in Em'ope, 

of the cliartor to this country in the light in which it is represented in the text ; 
— that the object was self-government ; an intention "not to be governed by 
laws made for them, without their consent ; " — a determination that those 
" should rule in New England, who made it the place of their residence ; " and 
*' not tJioxe who dwelt at the distance of three thousand miles, over ivhom they had 
no control." 

Two causes have concurred to keep the motives of our ancestors in that mea- 
sure, from the direct development which its nature deserves. The first was, 
that their motives could not be avowed consistently with that nominal depend- 
ence, which, in the weakness of the early emigrants, was unavoidable. The 
other was, that almost all the impressions left concerning our early history, have 
been derived through the medium of the clergy, who naturally gave an exclu- 
sive attention to the predominating motive, which was, unquestionably, religious 
liberty, and paid less regard to what the colonial statesmen of that day as 
unquestionably considered to be the essential means to that end. The men who 
said '' they would not go to New England unless the patent went with them," 
were not clergymen, but high-minded statesmen, who knew what was included 
in that transfer. Their conduct and that of their immediate descendants, speak 
a language of determined civil independence, not, at this day, to be gainsaid. 

Winthrop gives, incidentally, a remarkable evidence of his own sensibility, on 
the subject of the right of self-government, in the veiy earliest period after their 
emigration. 

""Mr. Winslow, the late Governor of Pljonouth," Winthrop relates, " being 
this year (1G35) in England, petitioned the council for a commission to wlth- 
stancl the intrusions of the Dutch and French. Now this," Winthrop remarks, 
"was undertaken loith ill advice; for such precedents endanger our liberty, that 

WE SHOULD DO NOTHIXG HEREAFTER BUT BY COMMISSION OUT OF ExG- 
LAND." — Winthrop, vol. i. p. 172. 

1 That the early emigrants foresaw that the ti'ansfer of the charter would 
effectually vest independence, may be deduced, not only from the whole tenor 
of their conduct after their emigration, which was an eil'ectual exercise of inde- 
pendence, but from the fact of the secrecy, with which this intention to transfer 
the charter teas maintained, until it teas actually on this side of the Atlantic. 

Our ancestors readily anticipated with what jealousy this transfer would be 
viewed by the English government ; and Averc accordingly solicitous to keep it 
from being known until they and the original charter were beyond their power. 
The original records of the General Court, in which the topic of this transfer 
of the charter was first agitated, speak a language on this subject, not to be 
mistaken. 

The terms of this record are as follows : — 

" At a General Court holdcn at London, for the Company of the ]\Iassa- 
chusetts Bay in New England, in Mr. Deputy's house, on Tuesday, the ^8th of 
July, 1629. Present, Mr. jMathew Cradock, Governor, 
Mr. GoFF, Deputy Governor." 

Here follow the names of the " assistants " and " generahty," who were 
present. 

" Mr. Governor read certain propositions conceived by himself, namely, that 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 335 

incident to the age, and then obviously impending over their 
parent state, their settlement, from its distance and early insig- 
nificance, would probably escape notice. They trusted to events, 
and doubtless anticipated, that, with its increasing strength, 
even nominal subjection would be abrogated. They knew that 
weakness was the law of nature, in the relation between parent 
states and their distant and detached colonies. Nothing else 
can be inferred, not only from their making the transfer of the 
charter the essential condition of then- emigration, thereby sever- 
ing themselves from all responsibility to persons abroad, but also 
from their instant and undeviating com'se of policy after their 
emigi-ation ; in boldly assuming whatever powers were neces- 
sary to then* condition, or suitable to their ends, whether attri- 
butes of sovereignty or not, without regard to the nature of the 
consequences resulting from the exercise of those powers. Nor 
was this assumption limited to powers which might be deduced 
from the charter, but was extended to such as no act of incorpo- 
ration, like that which they possessed, could, by any possibility 
of legal construction, be deemed to include. By the magic of 

for the advancement of the plantation, the inducing and encouraging persons of 
■worth and cj[uality to transplant themselves and families thither, and for other 
■weighty reasons therein contained, to tranrfer the government of the jjJantation to 
those that shall inhahit there, and not to continue the same in subordination to 
the company here, as now it is. This business occasioned some debate ; but by 
reason of the many great and considerable consequences thereupon depending, it 
■was not'now resolved upon, but those present are privately and seriously to con- 
sider hereof, and to set down their particular reasons in writing, pro and contra, 
and to produce the same at the next General Court, where they being reduced 
to heads and maturely considered of, the company may then proceed to a final 
resolution therein, and in the mean time they are desired to carry this 

BUSINESS SECRETLY, THAT THE SAME BE NOT DIVULGED." — See Original 

Records of Massachusetts, p. 19. 

What our ancestors thought they had gained, or what practical consequences 
they intended to deduce from this transfer of the patent, and from their posses- 
sion of it in this country, is apparent from the reasons, given by Winthrop, for 
not obeying the court mandate, to send the patent to England. 

Winthrop's account is as follows : — 

"The General Court was assembled, [1638,] in which it was agreed, that 
whereas a very strict order was sent from the Lords Commissioners for Planta- 
tions, for sending home our patent, upon pretence that judgment had passed 
against it upon a quo ivarranto, a letter should be written by the Governor iu 
the name of the Court, to excuse our not sending it ; for it was resolved to be 
best, not to send it, because then such of our friends and others in England 
■would conceive it to be surrendered, and thai thereupon, we should be bound to 
receive such a Governor and such orders, as should be sent to us, and many bad 
minds, yea, and some tveak ones, among ourselves, "would think it lawful, if 
NOT NECESSARY', TO ACCEPT A GENERAL GOVERNOR." — Winthrop, vol. i. 
p. 269. 



336 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

their daring, a private act of incorporation was transmuted into 
a civil constitution of state ; under the authority of which they 
made peace and declared war ; erected judicatures ; coined 
money ; raised armies ; built fleets ; laid taxes and imposts ; 
inflicted fines, penalties, and death ; and, in imitation of the 
British constitution, by the consent of all its own branches, 
without asking leave of any other, their legislature modified its 
own powers and relations, prescribed the qualifications of those 
who should conduct its authority, and enjoy, or be excluded from 
its privileges. The administration of the civil affairs of Massa- 
chusetts, for the sixty years next succeeding the settlement of 
this metropolis, was a phenomenon in the history of civil govern- 
ment. Under a theoretic colonial relation, an efficient and 
independent Commonwealth was erected, claiming and exer- 
cising attributes of sovereignty, higher and far more extensive 
than, at the present day, in consequence of its connection with 
the general government, Massachusetts pretends either to exer- 
cise or possess. Well might Chalmers assert, as in his Political 
Annals of the Colonies he does, that "Massachusetts, with a 
peculiar dexterity, abolished her charter ; " ^ that she was always 
" fruitful in projects of independence, the principles of which, at 
all times, governed her actions." ^ In this point of view, it is 
glory enough for our early ancestors, that, under manifold dis- 
advantages, in the midst of internal discontent and external 
violence and intrigue, of wars with the savages and with the 
neighboring colonies of France, they effected then* purpose, and 
for two generations of men, from 1630 to 1692, enjoyed liberty 
of conscience, according to their view of that subject, under the 
auspices of a free commonwealth. 

The three objects, which om* ancestors proposed to attain 
and perpetuate by all their institutions, were the noblest within 
the grasp of the human mind, and those on which, more than 
on any other, depend human happiness and hope; — relig-ioiis 
liberty/, — civil liberty, — and, as essential to the attainment and 
maintenance of both, — intellectual power. 

On the subject of religious liberty, their intolerance of other 
sects has been reprobated as an inconsistency, and as violating 
the very rights of conscience for which they emigrated. The 

1 Vol. i. p. 200. 2 Vol. i. pp. 158, 177. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 337 

inconsistency, if it exist, is altogether constructive, and the 
charge proceeds on a false assumption. The necessily of the 
policy,! considered in connection with their great design cf 
independence, is apparent. They had abandoned house and 
home, had sacrificed the comforts of kindred and cultivated life, 
had dared the dangers of the sea, and were then braving the still 
more appalling ten'ors of the wilderness; for what? — to acquire 
liberty for all sorts of consciences ? Not so ; but to vindicate 
and maintain the liberty of their own consciences. They did 
not cross the Atlantic, on a crusade, in behalf of the rights of 

1 The object of this policy was jicrccivcd by Chalmers. Thus he reprobates 
the law, that '' none should be admitted to the freedom of the company but such 
as were church members, and that none but freemen should -sote at elections or 
act as magistrates and jurymen," because it excluded //-om all participation in the 
government, those who could not comply with the necessary requisites. He 
understood well, that it was a means of defence against the English hierarch}', 
and intended to exclude from intluence all who were of the Enghsli church ; 
and complains of it as being " made in the true spirit of retaliation," (Book I. 
p. 153.) and adds, that "this severe law, notwithstantling the vigorous exertions 
of Cliarles II., continued in force till the quo ivarranto laid in ruins the structure 
of the government that had established it." 

To prove the necessity of this exclusive poUcy of our ancestors, and that it was 
strictly a measure of " self-defence," it is jjroper to remark, that as early as April, 
1635, a commission was issued for the government of the Plantations, granting 
absolute power to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to others, " to make laws 

AXD COXSTITUTIOXS, COXCERXIXG EITHER THEIR STATE PUBLIC OR THE 
UTILITY OF INDIVIDUALS, AND FOR THE RELIEF OF THE CLERGY TO CONSIGN 
CONVENIENT MAINTENANCE UNTO THEM BY TITHES AND OBLATIONS AND 
OTHER PROFITS ACCORDING TO THEIR DISCRETION," AND THEY WERE EM- 
POWERED TO INFLICT PUNISHMENTS, EITHER BY IMPRISOXMEXT OR BY LOSS 
OF LIFE AND MEMBERS. 

A broader charter of hierarchical despotism was never conceived. The only 
means of protection against it, to which our ancestors could resort, was that 
which they adopted. By the principle of making church-membership a ciualifi- 
cation for the enjo^Tnent of the rights of a freeman, they excluded from all poli- 
tical intluence the friends of the hierarchy. To the same motive may be referred 
that other principle, that "no churches should be gathered but such as were 
approved by the magistrate." Notwithstanding that the direct tendency of these 
principles was to destroy the intluence of the crown and the hierarchy in the 
colon}-, the obviousness of the motive is unnoticed by Chalmers, for the sake of 
repeating the gross charge of bigotry ; and this too at the very time Avhen he is 
urging their design of independence against our ancestors as their great crime. 
Our ancestors could not avow their ruling motive ; and they seem at all times to 
be actuated by the noble principle of being content to submit in their own cha- 
racters to the obloquy of bigotry, as a less evil than that their cliildreu should 
become subject to the hierarch}' of the Stuarts. -^ 

It is difficult to perceive how the principles of this conunission could hava 
been otherwise resisted by our ancestors, than by putting at once out of influ- 
ence all those disposed to yield submission to it. Nor was it possible for them to 
ap])ly their disqualification directly to the adherents of the English hierarchy. 
They were compelled, if it were adopted at all, to make it general, and to 
acquiesce in the charge of bigotry in order to give efficacy to their polic}'. 
29 



338 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

mankind in general, but in support of their own rights and liber- 
ties. Tolerate I Tolerate whom ? The legate of the Roman 
Pontiff, or the emissary of Charles I. and Archbishop Laud? 
How consummate would have been their folly and madness, 
to have fled into the wilderness to escape the horrible persecu- 
tions of those hierarchies, and at once have admitted into the 
bosom of their society, men brandishing, and ready to apply, the 
very flames and fetters from which they had fled ! Those who 
are disposed to condemn them on this account, neither realize 
the necessities of their condition, nor the prevailing character 
of the times. Under the stern discipline of Elizabeth and James, 
the stupid bigotry of the First Charles, and the spiritual pride 
of Archbishop Laud, the spmt of the English hierarchy was 
very different from that which it assumed, when, after having 
been tamed and humanized under the wholesome disciphne of 
Cromwell and his Commonwealth, it yielded itself to the mild 
influence of the principles of 1688, and to the liberal spirit of 
Tillotson. 

But it is said, if they did not tolerate their ancient persecutors, 
they might, at least, have tolerated rival sects. That is, they 
ought to have tolerated sects, imbued with the same principles 
of intolerance as the transatlantic hierarchies ; sects, whose first 
use of power would have been to endeavor to uproot the liberty 
of our fathers, and persecute them, according to the knowii 
principles of sectarian action, with a virulence in the inverse 
ratio of their reciprocal likeness and proximity. Those, who 
thvis reason and thus condemn, have considered but very super- 
ficially the nature of the human mind and its actual condition 
in the time of our ancestors. 

The great doctrine, now so universally recognized, that liberty 
of conscience is the right of the individual, — a concern between 
every man and his Maker, with which the civil magistrate is not 
authorized to interfere, — was scarcely, in then* day, known, 
except in private theory and solitary speculation ; as a practical 
truth, to be acted upon by the civil power, it was absolutely and 
universally rejected by all men, all parties, and all sects, as 
totally subversive, not only of the peace of the church, but of 
the peace of society.^ That great truth, now deemed so simple 

1 Hiune's Ilidory ofEiujland, vol. vi. p. 168. 



CITY GOYERmiENT. 339 

and plain, was so far from being an easy discovery of the human 
intellect, that it may be doubted whether it would ever have 
been discovered by human reason at all, had it not been for the 
miseries in which man was involved in consequence of his igno- 
rance of it. That truth was not evolved by the calm exertion 
of the human faculties, but was stricken out by the collision of 
the human passions. It was not the result of philosophic re- 
search, but was a hard lesson, taught under the lash of a severe 
discipline, provided for the gradual instruction of a being like 
man, not easily brought into subjection to virtue, and w^ith 
natural propensities to pride, ambition, avarice, and selfishness. 
Previously to that time, irr'all modifications of society, ancient 
or modern, religion had been seen only in close connection with 
the state. It was the universal instrument by which worldly 
ambition shaped and moulded the multitude to its ends. To 
have attempted the establishment of a state on the basis of a 
perfect freedom of religious opinion, and the perfect right of 
every man to express his opinion, would then have been consi- 
dered as much a solecism, and an experiment quite as V\^ild and 
visionary, as it would be, at this day, to attempt the establish- 
ment of a state on the principle of a perfect liberty of individual 
action, and the perfect right of every man to conduct himself 
according to his private will. Had our early ancestors adopted 
the course we, at this day, are apt to deem so easy and obvious, 
and placed their government on the basis of liberty for all sorts 
of consciences, it would have been, in that age, a certain intro- 
duction of anarchy. It cannot be questioned, that all the fond 
hopes they had cherished from emigi-ation would have been lost. 
The agents of Charles and James would have planted here the 
standard of the transatlantic monarchy and hierarchy. Divided 
and broken, without practical energy, subject to court influences 
and court favorites, New England at this day would have been 
a colony of the parent state,^ her character yet to be formed and 
her independence yet to be vindicated. 

1 Lest the consequences of an opposite policy, had it been adopted by our 
ancestors, may seem to be exaggerated, as here represented, it is proper to state, 
that upon the strength and united spirit of New England mainly depended 
(under Heaven) the success of our revolutionarj'- struggle. Had New p]ngland 
been divided, or even less unanimous, independence would have scarcely been 
attempted, or, if attemj)ted, acquired. It wUl give additional strength to this 



340 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

The non-toleration, which characterized our early ancestors, 
from whatever source it may have originated, had undoubtedly 
the effect they intended and ivished. It excluded from influence 
in their infant settlement all the friends and adherents of the 
ancient monarchy and hierarchy; all who, from any motive, 
ecclesiastical or civil, were disposed to disturb their peace or 
their churches. They considered it a measure of " self-defence.^^ 
And it is unquestionable, that it was chiefly instrumental in 
forming the homogeneous and exclusively republican character 
for which the people of New England have, in all times, been 
distinguished ; and, above all, that it fixed irrevocably in the 
country that noble security for religious liberty, the independent 
system of church government. 

The principle of the independence of the churches, including 
the right of every individual to unite with what church he 
pleases, under whatever sectarian auspices it may have been 
fostered, has, through the influence of time and experience, lost 
altogether its exclusive character. It has become the universal 
guaranty of religious liberty to all sects without discrimination, 
and is as much the protector of the Roman Catholic, the Epis- 
copalian, and tlie Presbyterian, as of the Independent form of 
worship. The security, which results from this principle, does 
not depend upon charters and constitutions, but on what is 
stronger than either, the nature of the principle in connection 
with the nature of man. So long as this intellectual, moralj 
and religious being, man, is constituted as he is, the unrestricted 
liberty of associating for public worship, and the independence 
of those associations of external control, will necessarily lead to 
a most happy number and variety of them. In the principle of 
the independence of each, the liberty of individual conscience 
is safe under the panoply of the common interest of all. No 
other perfect security for liberty of conscience was ever devised 
by man, except this independence of the churches. This pos- 
sessed, liberty of conscience has no danger. This denied, it has 



argument to o1)«orvo, that the number of troops, regular and militia, furnished by 

all the States during the war of the Revolution, Avas . . , 288,134 

Of these, New England furnished more than half, namelf, . 147,674 

And ]\Iassaehusetts alone furnished nearly one third, namely, . 83,162 

See the Collections of (he New Hampshire Historical Society, vol. i. p. 236. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 341 

no safety. There can be no greater human security than com- 
mon right, placed under the protection of common interest. 

It is the excellence and beauty of this simple principle, that, 
while it secures all, it restricts none. They, who delight in lofty 
and splendid monuments of ecclesiastical architecture, may raise 
the pyi-amid of church power, with its aspiring steps and grada- 
tions, until it terminate in the despotism of one, or a few ; the 
humble dwellers at the base of the proud edifice may wonder, 
and admire the ingenuity of the contrivance and the splendor of 
its massive dimensions, but it is without envy and without fear. 
Safe in the principle of independence, they worship, be it in 
tent, or tabernacle, or in the open air, as securely as though 
standing on the topmost pinnacle of the loftiest fabric ambition 
ever devised. 

The glory of discovering and putting this principle to the test, 
on a scale capable of trying its efficacy, belongs to the fathers 
of Massachusetts,^ who are entitled to a full share of that acknow- 
ledgment made by Hume, when he asserts, "that for all the 
Ubertij of the English constitution that nation is indebted to the 
Puritans." 

The glory of our ancestors radiates from no point more 
strongly than from their institutions of learning. The people 
of New England are the first known to history, who provided, 
in the original constitution of their society, for the education of 
the whole population out of the general fund. In other coun- 
tries, provisions have been made of this character in favor of 
certain particular classes, or for the poor by way of charity. But 
here first were the children of the whole community invested 
with the right of being educated at the expense of the whole 
society ; and not only this, the obligation to take advantage 
of that right was enforced by severe supervision and penalties. 
By simple laws they founded their commonwealth on the only 
basis on which a republic has any hope of happiness or continu- 
ance, the general information of the people. They denominated 
it " barbarism " not to be able " perfectly to read the English 
tongue and to know the general laws."^ In soliciting a gene- 
ral contribution for the support of the neighboring University, 
they declare that " skill in the tongues and liberal arts, is no 

■> Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. p. 438 and 490. 
2 Old Colony Laws, p. 26. 

29* 



342 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

only laudable, but necessary for the ivell-heing of the common- 
wealth." ^ And in requiring every town, having one hundred 
householders, to set up a grammar school, provided with a 
master able to fit youth for the University, the object avowed is, 
" to enable men to obtain a knowledge of the Scriptures, and by 
acquaintance with the ancient tongues to qualify them to dis- 
cern the true sense and meaning of the original, however cor- 
rupted by false glosses." Thus liberal and thus elevated, in 
respect of learning, were the views of our ancestors." 

To the same master-passion, dread of the English hierarchy, 
and the same main purpose, civil independence, may be attri- 
buted, in a gi'eat degree, the nature of the government which 
the principal civil and spiritual influences of the time established, 
and, notwithstanding its many objectionable features, the willing 
submission to it of the people. 

It cannot be questioned, that the constitution of the state, :: 
sketched in the first laws of our ancestors, was a skilful combi- 
nation of both civil and ecclesiastical powers. Church and 
state were very curiously and efficiently interwoven with each 
other. It is usual to attribute to religiovis bigotry the submis- 
sion of the mass of the people to' a system thus stern and exclu- 
sive. It may, however, with quite as much justice, be resolved 
into love of independence and political sagacity. 

The great body of the first emigrants doubtless coincided in 
general religious views with those whose influence predominated 
in their church and state. They had, consequently, no personal 
objection to the stern discipline their political system established. 
They had also the sagacity to foresee that a system, which by 
its rigor should exclude from power all who did not concur with 
their religious views, would have a direct tendency to deter 
those in other countries from emigrating to their settlement, 
who did not agree with the general plan of policy they had 
adopted, and of consequence to increase the probability of their 
escape from the interference of their ancient oppressors, and the 
chance of success in laying the foundation of the free common- 
wealth they contemplated. They also doubtless perceived, that, 
with the unqualified possession of the elective franchise^ they 
had little reason to apprehend that they could not easily control 

1 Records of ihe Colony, p. 117 ; IDth Oct. 1G52. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 343 

or annihilate any ill effect upon their political system, arising 
from the union of church and state, should it become insup- 
portable. 

There is abundant evidence, that the submission of the people 
to this new form of church and state combination was not owing 
to ignorance, or to indifference to the true principles of civil and 
religious liberty. Notwithstanding the strong attachment of the 
early emigrants to their civil, and then- almost blind devotion to 
their ecclesiastical leaders, when, presuming on their influence, 
either attempted any thing inconsistent with general liberty, a 
corrective is seen almost immediately applied by the spirit and 
intelligence of the people. 

In this respect, the character of the people of Boston has been 
at all times distinguished. In every period of our history, they 
have been second to none in quickness to discern or in readiness 
to meet every exigency, fearlessly hazarding life and fortune in 
support of the Hberties of the commonwealth. It would be easy 
to maintain these positions by a recurrence to the annals of each 
successive age, and particularly to facts connected with our revo- 
lutionary struggle. A few instances only will be noticed, and 
those selected from the earliest times. 

A natural jealousy soon sprung up in the metropolis as to the 
intentions of their civil and ecclesiastical leaders.^ In 1634 the 
people began to fear, lest, by reelecting Winthrop, they " should 
make way for a Governor for life." They accordingly gave 
some indications of a design to elect another person. Upon 
which John Cotton, their great ecclesiastical head, then at the 
height of his popularity, preached a discourse to the General 
Court, and deUvered this docti'ine, — " that a magistrate ought 
not to be turned out, without just cause, no more than a magis- 
trate might turn out a private man from his freehold, without 
trial." 2 To show their dislike of the doctrine by the most prac- 
tical of evidences, our ancestors gave the political divine and his 
adherents a succession of lessons, for which they were probably 
the wiser all the rest of their lives. They turned out Winthrop 
at the very same election, and put in Dudley. The year after, 
they turned out Dudley and put in Haynes. The year after, 
they turned out Haynes, and put in Vane. So much for the 

I Winthrop, vol. i. p. 29D. 2 jUd vol. i. p. 132. 



344 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

first broaching, in Boston, of the doctrine, that public ofRce is 
of the nature of freehold. 

In 1635, an attempt was made by the General Court, to elect 
a certain number of magistrates as counsellors for life^ Al- 
though Cotton was the author also of this project, and notwith- 
standing his influence, yet such was the spirit displayed by our 
ancestors on the occasion, that within three years the General 
Court 2 was compelled to pass a vote, denying any such intent, 
and declaring that the persons so chosen should not be accounted 
magistrates, or have any authority in consequence of such elec- 
tion. 

In 1636, the gi*eat Antinomian controversy divided the country. 
Boston was for the covenant of grace ; the General Court, for 
the covenant of works. Under pretence of the apprehension of 
a riot, the General Court adjom-ned to Newtown, and expelled 
the Boston deputies for daring to remonstrate. Boston, indig- 
nant at this infringement of its liberties, was about electing the 
same deputies a second time. At the earnest solicitation of 
Cotton, however, they chose others. One of these was also 
expelled by the Court; and a writ having been issued to the 
town ordering a new election, they refused making any return 
to the warrant, — a contempt which the General Court did not 
think it v^dse to resent. 

In 1639, there being vacancies in the Board of Assistants, the 
Governor and magistrates met and nominated three persons, 
" not with intent," as they said, " to lead the people's choice of 
these, nor to divert them from any other, but only to propound 
for consideration (which any freeman may do) and so leave the 
people to use their liberties according to then consciences." 
Tlie result was, that the people did use then liberties according 
to their consciences. They chose not a man of them.^ So 
much for the first legislative caucus in our history. It probably 
would have been happy for their posterity, if the people had 
always treated like nominations with as little ceremony. 

About this time, also, the General Court took exception at 
the length of the " lectures,''^ then the great delight of the people, 
and at the ill effects resulting from their frequency ; whereby 
poor people were led greatly to neglect their afFans, to the great 



1 Ibid. p. 186. 2 Jiid, p. 302. 3 2bid. vol. il. p. 



-■i-lS. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 345 

hazard also of their health, owing to their long continuance in 
the night. Boston expressed strong dislike i at this interference, 
" fearing that the precedent might inthral them to the civil 
power, and, besides, be a blemish upon them with their posterity, 
as though they needed to be regulated by the civil magistrate, 
and raise an ill-savor of their coldness, as if it were possible for 
the people of Boston to complain of too much preaching." 

The magistrates, fearful lest the people should break their 
bonds, were content to apologize, to abandon the scheme of 
shortening lectures or diminishing their number, and to rest satis- 
fied with a general understanding, that assemblies should break 
up in such season, as that people, dwelling a mile or two off, 
might get home by daylight. Winthrop, on this occasion, 
passes the following eulogium on the people of Boston, which 
every period of then* history amply confii*ms : " They were gene- 
rally of that understanding and moderation, as that they would 
be easily guided in their way by any rule from Scripture or 
sound reason." 

It is curious and instructive to trace the principles of our con- 
stitution as they were successively suggested by circumstances, 
and gradually gained by the intelligence and daring spirit of the 
people. For the first four years after their emigration, the free- 
men, like other corporations, met and transacted business in a 
body. At this time the people attained a representation under 
the name of deputies, who sat in the same room with the magis- 
trates, to whose negative all their proceedings were subjected. 
Next arose the struggle about the negative, which lasted for ten 
years, and eventuated in the separation of the General Court, 
into two branches, with each a negative on the other.^ Then 
came the jealousy of the deputies concerning the magistrates,'^ 
as proceeding too much by their discretion for want of positive 
laws, and the demand by the deputies, that persons should be 
appointed to frame a body of fundamental laws in resemblance 
of the English Magna Charta. 

After this occun'cd the controversy * relative to the powers of 
the magistrates, during the recess of the General Court; con- 
cerning which, when the deputies found that no compromise 
could be made, and the magistrates declared that, " if occasion 

1 Winthrop, vol. i. p. 325. 3 Ihid. p. 322. 

2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 160. 4 lUd. vol. ii. p. 169. 



346 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

required, they should act according to the power and trust com- 
mitted to them," the Speaker of the House in his place replied, — 
" Then, gentlejien, you will not be obeyed." 

In every period of our early history, the friends of the ancient 
hierarchy and monarchy were assiduous in their endeavors to 
introdace a form of government on the principle of an efficient 
colonial relation. Our ancestors were no less vigilant to avail 
themselves of their local situation and of the difficulties of the 
parent state to defeat those attempts ; or, in their language, "to 
avoid and protract." They lived, however, under a perpetual 
apprehension, that a royal governor would be imposed upon 
them by the law of force. Their resolution never faltered on the 
point of resistance to the extent of their power. Notwithstand- 
ing Boston would have been the scene of the struggle and the 
first victim to it, yet its inhabitants never shrunk from their 
duty through fear of danger, and were always among the fore- 
most to prepare for every exigency. Castle Island was fortified 
chiefly, and the battery at the north end of the town, and that 
called the " Sconce," wholly by the voluntary contributions of its 
inhabitants. After the restoration of Charles IL, their instruc- 
tions to their representatives in the General Court breathe one 
uniform spirit, — " not to recede from their just rights and privi- 
leges as secured by the patent." When, in 1662, the King's 
Commissioners came to Boston, the inhabitants, to show their 
spirit in support of their own laws, took measures to have them 
aU arrested for a breach of the Saturday evening law, and actu- 
ally brought them before the magistrate for riotous and abusive 
carriage. When Randolph, in 1684, came with his quo vmrranto 
against then' charter, on the question being taken in town meet- 
ing, " whether the freemen were minded that the General Court 
should make full submission and entke resignation of their 
charter, and of the privileges therein granted, to his Majesty's 
pleasure," Boston resolved in the negative, ivithout a dissentient. 

In 1689, the tyranny of Andros, the Governor appointed by 
James IL, having become insupportable to the whole country, 
Boston rose, like one man ; took the battery on Fort Hill by 
assault in open day ; made prisoners of the King's Governor and 
the Captain of the King's frigate, then lying in the harbor ; and 
restored, with the concurrence of the country, the authority of 
the old charter leaders. 



CITY GOVERKMENT. 347 

By accepting the charter of William and IMary, in 1692, the 
people of ]\Iassachusetts first yielded their claims of independ- 
ence to the Crown. It is only requisite to read the official 
account of the agents of the colony, to perceive both the resist- 
ance they made to that charter, and the necessity which com- 
pelled their acceptance of it.^ Those agents were told by the 
King's ministers, that they " must take that or none ; " that 
" their consent to it was not asked ; " that if " they would not 
submit to the King's pleasure they must take what would fol- 
low." " The opinion of our lawyers," say the agents, " was, 
that a passive submission to the new was not a surrender of the 
old charter ; and that their taking up with this did not make the 
people of Massachusetts, in law, uncapable of obtaining all their 
old privileg^es, whenever a favorable opportiinifij should present 
itself.'^ In the year 1776, nearly a century afterwards, that 
" favorable opportunity did present itself," and the people of 
Massachusetts, in conformity with the opinion of their learned 
counsel and faithful agents, did vindicate and obtain all then: 
" old privileges " of self-government. 

Under the new colonial government, thus authoritatively 
imposed upon them, arose new parties and new struggles, — 
prerogative men, earnest for a permanent salary for the Kin^s 
Governor ; patriots resisting such an establishment, and indig- 
nant at the negative exercised by that officer. 

At the end of the first centmy after the settlement, three gene- 
rations of men had passed away. For vigor, boldness, enter- 
prise, and a self-sacrificing spirit, Massachusetts stood unri- 
valled.2 She had added wealth and extensive dominion to the 
English Crown. She had turned a barren wilderness into a cul- 
tivated field, and instead of barbarous ti'ibes had planted civil- 
ized communities. She had prevented France from taking pos- 
session of the whole of North America ; conquered Port Royal 
and Acadia ; and attempted the conquest of Canada with a fleet 
of thu-ty-two sail and two thousand men. At one time, a fifth 
of her whole effective male population was in arms. When 
Nevis was plundered by Iberville, she voluntarily transmitted 

1 See A Brief Account concerning tlie Agents of New England and tlieir 
Negotiation tvith the Court of England. By Increase Mather. London, 1691. 

2 See A Defence of the New England Charters, hy Jeremiah Dummer, printed 
in 1721. 



348 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

two thousand pounds sterling for the relief of the inhabitants of 
that island. By these exertions her resources were exhausted, 
her treasury was impoverished, and she stood bereft and "alone 
with her glory." 

Boston shared in the embarrassments of the Commonwealth. 
Her commerce was crippled by severe revenue laws and by a 
depreciated currency. Her population did not exceed fifteen 
thousand. In September, 1730, she was prevented from all 
notice of this anniversary by the desolations of the smallpox. 

Notwithstanding the darkness of these clouds which overhung 
Massachusetts and its meti'opolis at the close of the first century, 
in other aspects the dawn of a brighter day may be discerned. 
The exclusive policy in matters of religion, to which the State 
had been svibjected, began gradually to give place to a more per- 
fect liberty. Literature was exchanging subtle metaphysics, 
quaint conceits, and unwieldy lore for inartificial reasoning, sim- 
ple taste, and natural thought. Dummer defended the colony in 
language polished in the society of Pope and of Bolingbroke. 
Coleman, Cooper, Chauncy, Bowdoin, and others of that con- 
stellation, were on the horizon. By their side shone the star of 
Franklin ; its early brightness giving promise of its meridian 
splendors. Even now began to appear signs of revolution. 
Voices of complaint and murmur were heard in the air. " Spi- 
rits finely touched and to fine issues," — willing and fearless, — 
breathing unutterable things, flashed along the darkness. In the 
sky were seen streaming lights, indicating the approach of lumi- 
naries yet below the horizon, — Adams, Hancock, Otis, War- 
ren, — leaders of a glorious host, precursors of eventful times, 
" with fear of change perplexing monarchs." 

It would be appropriate, did time permit, to speak of these 
luminaries, in connection with our Revolution ; to trace the prin- 
ciples, which dictated the first emigration of the founders of this 
metropolis, through the several stages of their development ; and 
to show that the declaration of independence, in 1776, itself, and 
all the struggles which preceded it, and all the voluntary sacri- 
fices, the self-devotion, and the sufterings, to which the people 
of that day submitted, for the attainment of indej)endence, were, 
so far as respects Massachusetts, but the natural and inevitable 
consequences of the terms of that noble engagement, made by 
our ancestors, in August.) 1629, the year before their emigration; 



CITY GOVERNMENT. • 349 

which may well be denominated, from its early and later 
results, the first and original declaration of independence by- 
Massachusetts. 

"J5^ GocVs assistance, ive will he ready in our persons., and 
with such of our families as are to g-o ivith ns, to embark for the 
said plantation hij the first of March next, to pass the seas {binder 
God's protection) to inhabit and continue in Neiv England. Pro- 
vided ahvat/s, that before the last of September next, the whole 

GOVERNMENT, TOGETHER WITH THE PATENT, BE FIRST LEGALLY 
TRANSFERRED AND ESTABLISHED, TO REMAIN WITH US AND OTHERS, 
WHICH SHALL INHABIT THE SAID PLANTATION." ^ GciierOUS I'CSO- 

lution ! Noble foresight I Sublime self-devotion ; chastened and 
directed by a wisdom, faithful and prospective of distant conse- 
quences I Well may we exclaim, — " This policy overtopped all 
the policy of this world." 

For the advancement of the three great objects which were 
the scope of the policy of our ancestors, — intellectual power, 
religious liberty, and civil liberty, — Boston has in no period 
been surpassed, either in readiness to incur, or in energy to 
make useful, personal or pecuniary sacrifices. She provided for 
the education of her citizens out of the general fund, antece- 
dently to the law of the Commonwealth making such provision 
imperative. Nor can it be questioned, that her example and 
influence had a decisive effect in producing that law. An intel- 
ligent generosity has been conspicuous among her inhabitants 
on this subject, from the day when, in 16o5, they " entreated 
. our brother Philemon Pormont to become schoolmaster, for the 
teaching and nurturing children with us," to this hour, when 
what is equivalent to a capital of two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars is invested in school-houses, eighty schools are 
maintained, and seven thousand and five hundred children edu- 
cated at an expense exceeding annually sixty-five thousand 
dollars. No city in the world, in proportion to its means and 
population, ever gave more uniform and unequivocal evidences 

' See " A true coppie of the agreement at Cambridge, 1629," in Hutchinson's 
Collection of Orujinal Papers relative to the IPistorij of the Colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay, p. 25, signed by 

llichard Saltonstall, John Winthrop, Thomas Sharp, 

Tliomas Dudley, Kelhun Browne, Increase Nowcll, 

William Vassal, Isaac Johnson, William Fynchon, 

Nicko : West, John Humfrey, William Colbron. 

30 



350 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

of its desire to diffuse intellectual power and moral culture 
through the whole mass of the community. The result is every 
day witnessed, at home and abroad, in private intercourse and 
in the public assembly ; in a quiet and orderly demeanor, in the 
self-respect and mutual harmony prevalent among its citizens ; 
in the general comfort which characterizes their condition; in 
their submission to the laws ; and in that wonderful capacity for 
self-government, which postponed for almost two centuries a 
city organization ; — and this, even then, was adopted more with 
reference to anticipated, than from experience of existing evils. 
During the whole of that period, and even after its population 
exceeded fifty thousand, its financial, economical, and municipal 
interests were managed, either by general vote, or by men 
appointed by the whole multitude ; and with a regularity, wis- 
dom, and success, which it will be happy if future adminis- 
trations shall equal, and which certainly they will find it diffi- 
cult to exceed. 

The influence of the institutions of our fathers is also appa- 
rent in that munificence towards objects of public interest or 
charity, for which, in every period of its history, the citizens of 
Boston have been distinguished, and which, by universal con- 
sent, is recognized to be a prominent featm'e in their character. 
To no city has Boston ever been second in its spirit of liberality. 
From the first settlement of the country to this day, it has been 
a point to which have tended applications for assistance or 
relief, on account of suffering or misfortune ; for the patronage 
of colleges, the endowment of schools, the erection of chm-ches, 
and the spreading of learning and religion, from almost every 
section of the United States. Seldom have the hopes of any 
worthy applicant been disappointed. The benevolent and pub- 
lic spirit of its inhabitants is also evidenced by its hospitals, its 
asylums, public libraries, almshouses, charitable associations — 
in its patronage of the neighboring University, and in its sub- 
scriptions for general charities. 

It is obviously impracticable to give any just idea of the 
amount of these charities. They flow from virtues which seek 
the shade and shun record. They are silent and secret out- 
wellings of grateful hearts, desirous unostentatiously to acknow- 
ledge the bounty of Heaven in their prosperity and abundance. 
The result of inqukies, necessarily imperfect, however, authorize 



CITY GOT'ERNMENT. 35I 

the statement, tliat, in the records of societies having for their 
objects either learning or some public charity, or in documents 
in the hands of individuals relative to contributions for the 
relief of suffering, or the patronage of distinguished merit or 
talent, there exists evidence of the liberality of the citizens of 
this metropolis, and that chiefly within the last thirty years, of 
an amount, by voluntary donation or bequest, exceeding one 
million and eight hundred thousand dollars. Far short as this 
sum falls of the real amount obtained within that period from 
the liberality of our citizens, it is yet enough to make evident, 
that the best spirit of the institutions of our ancestors survives 
in the hearts, and is exhibited in the lives, of the citizens of 
Boston ; inspiring love of country and duty ; stimulating to the 
active virtues of benevolence and charity ; exciting wealth and 
power to their best exercises; counteracting what is selfish in 
our nature ; and elevating the moral and social virtues to wise 
sacrifices and noble energies. 

With respect to religious liberty, where does it exist in a more 
perfect state, than in this metropolis ? Or where has it ever been 
enjoyed in a purer spu-it, or with happier consequences? In 
what city of equal population are all classes of society more 
distinguished for obedience to the institutions of rehgion, for 
regular attendance on its worship, for more happy intercourse 
with its ministers, or more uniformly honorable support of them ? 
In all struggles connected with religious liberty, and these are 
inseparable from its possession, it may be said of the inhabitants 
of this city, as truly as of any similar association of men, that 
they have ever maintained the freedom of the Gospel in the 
spirit of Christianity. Divided into various sects, their mutual 
intercourse has, almost without exception, been harmonious and 
respectful. The labors of intemperate zealots, with which, occa- 
sionally, every age has been troubled, have seldom, in this metro- 
polis, been attended with their natural and usual consequences. 
Its sects have never been made to fear or hate one another. 
The genius of its inhabitants, through the influence of the intel- 
lectual power which pervades their mass, has ever been quick to 
detect " close ambition varnished o'er with zeal." The modes, 
the forms, the discipfine, the opinions, which our ancestors held 
to be essential, have, in many respects, been changed or oblite- 
rated with the progress of time, or been countervailed or super- 



352 MUNICirAL HISTORY. 

seded by rival forms and opinions. But veneration for the 
Sacred Scriptures and attachment to the right of free inquiry, 
which were tlie substantial motives of their emigi-ation and of 
all their institutions, remain, and are maintained in a Christian 
spirit, (judging by life and language,) certainly not exceeded in 
the times of any of our ancestors. The right to read those 
Scriptures is universally recognized. The means to acquire the 
possession and to attain the knowledge of them are multiplied 
by the intelligence and liberality of the age, and extended to 
every class of society. All men are invited to search for them- 
selves concerning the grounds of their hopes of future happiness 
and acceptance. All are permitted to hear from the lips of our 
Saviour himself, that " the meek," " the merciful," " the pure in 
heart," " the persecuted for righteousness' sake," are those who 
shall receive the blessing, and be admitted to the presence, of 
the Eternal Father ; and to be assured from those sacred records, 
that, " in every nation, he who feareth God and worketh right- 
eousness, is accepted of him." Elevated by the power of these 
sublime assurances, as conformable to reason as to Revelation, 
man's intellectual principle rises " above the smoke and stir of 
this dim spot," and, like an eagle soaring above the Andes, looks 
down on the cloudy cliffs, the narrow, separating points, and 
flaming craters, which divide and terrify men below. 

It is scarcely necessary, on this occasion, to speak of civil 
liberty, or to tell of our constitutions of government; of the 
freedom they maintain and are calculated to preserve ; of the 
equality they establish ; the self-respect they encourage ; the 
private and domestic virtues they cherish ; the love of country 
they inspire; the self-devotion and self-sacrifice they enjoin; — 
all these are but the filling up of the great outline sketched by 
our fathers, the parts in which, through the darkness and per- 
versity of their times, they were defective, being corrected ; all 
are but endeavors, conformed to their great, original conception, 
to group together the strength of society and the religious and 
civil rights of the individual, in a living and breathing spirit of 
efficient power, by forms of civil government, adapted to our 
condition, and adjusted to social relations of unexampled great- 
ness and extent, unparalleled in their results, and connected by 
principles elevated as the nature of man, and immortal as his 
destinies. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 353 

It is not, however, from local position, nor from general cir- 
cumstances of life and fortune, that the peculiar felicity of this 
metropolis is to be deduced. Her enviable distinction is, that 
she is among the chiefest of that happy New England family, 
which claims descent from the early emigrants. If we take a 
survey, of that family, and, excluding from our view the unnum- 
bered multitudes of its members who have occupied the vacant 
wildernesses of other States, we restrict our thoughts to the local 
sphere of New England, what scenes open upon our sight! 
How wild and visionary would seem our prospects, did we 
indulge only natural anticipations of the future! Already, on 
an area of seventy thousand square miles, a population of two 
millions ; all, but comparatively a few, descendants of the early 
emigrants ! Six independent Commonwealths, with constitu- 
tions varying in the relations and proportions of power, yet 
uniform in all their general principles ; diverse in their political 
an'angements, yet each suflicient for its own necessities ; all 
harmonious with those without, and peaceful within ; embrac- 
ing, under the denomination of toivns, upwards of twelve hun- 
dred effective republics, with qualified powers, indeed, but pos- 
sessing potent influences; — subject themselves to the respective 
State sovereignties, yet directing all their operations, and shaping 
their policy by constitutional agencies ; swayed, no less than 
the greater republics, by pas.sions, interests, and affections ; like 
them, exciting competitions which rouse into action the latent 
energies of mind, and infuse into the mass of each society a 
knowledge of the nature of its interests, and a capacity to under- 
stand and share in the defence of those of the Commonwealth. 
The effect of these minor republics is daily seen in the existence 
of practical talents, and in the readiness with which those 
talents can be called into the public service of the State. 

If, after this general survey of the surface of New England, 
we cast our eyes on its cities and great towns, with what won- 
der should we behold, did not famiharity render the phenomenon 
almost unnoticed, men, combined in great multitudes, possessing 
freedom and the consciousness ^of strength, — the comparative 
physical power of the ruler less than that of a cobweb across a 
lion's path, — yet orderly, obedient, and respectful to authority; 
a people, but no populace ; every class in reality existing, which 
the general law of society acknowledges, except one, — and this 
30* 



354 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

exception characterizing the whole country. The soil of New 
England is trodden by no slave. In our streets, in our assem- 
blies, in the halls of election and legislation, men of every rank 
and condition meet, and unite or divide on other principles, and 
are actuated by other motives, than those growing out of such 
distinctions. The fears and jealousies, which in other countries 
separate classes of men and make them hostile to each other, 
have here no influence, or a very limited one. Each individual, 
of whatever condition, has the consciousness of Living under 
known laws, which secure equal rights, and guarantee to each 
whatever portion of the goods of life, be it great or small, chance, 
or talent, or industry may have bestowed. All perceive, that 
the honors and rewards of society are open equally to the fair 
competition of all ; that the distinctions of wealth, or of power, 
are not fixed in families ; that whatever of this nature exists 
to-day, may be changed to-morrow, or, in a coming generation, 
be absolutely reversed. Common principles, interests, hopes, 
and affections, are the result of universal education. Such are 
the consequences of the equality of rights, and of the provisions 
for the general diffusion of knowledge and the distribution of 
intestate estates, established by the laws framed by the earliest 
emigrants to New England. 

If from our cities we turn to survey the wide expanse of the 
interior, how do the effects of the institutions and example of 
our early ancestors appear, in all the local comfort and accom- 
modation which mark the general condition of the whole coun- 
try; — unobtrusive indeed, but substantial; in nothing splendid, 
but in every thing sufficient and satisfactory. Indications of 
active talent and practical energy exist everywhere. With a 
soil comparatively little luxuriant, and in great proportion either 
rock, or hill, or sand, the skill and industry of man are seen 
triumphing over the obstacles of nature ; making the rock the 
guardian of the field ; moulding the granite, as though it were 
clay; leading cultivation to the hill-top, and spreading over the 
arid plain, hitherto unknown and unanticipated harvests. The 
lofty mansion of the prosperous adjoins the lowly dwelling of 
the husbandman ; their respective inmates are in the daily inter- 
change of civility, sympathy, and respect. Enterprise and skill, 
which once held chief affinity with the ocean or the sea-board, 
now begin to delight the interior, haunting our rivers, where the 



CITY GOVERNMENT. ^55 

music of the waterfall, with powers more attractive than those 
of the fabled harp of Orpheus, collects around it intellectual man 
and material nature. Towns and cities, civilized and happy 
communities, rise, like exhalations, on rocks and in forests, till 
the deep and far-resounding voice of the neighboring torrent is 
itself lost and unheard, amid the predominating noise of success- 
ful and rejoicing labor. 

What lessons has New England, in every period of her his- 
tory, given to the world ! What lessons do her condition and 
example still give I How unprecedented; yet how practical! 
How simple ; yet how powerful I She has proved, that all the 
variety of Christian sects may live together in harmony, under 
a government, which allows equal privileges to all, — exclusive 
preeminence to none. She has proved, that ignorance among 
the multitude is not necessary to order, but that the surest basis 
of perfect order is the information of the people. She has proved 
the old maxim, that " no government, except a despotism with 
a standing army, can subsist where the people have arms,'' is 
false. Ever since the first settlement of the country, arms have 
been required to be in the hands of the whole multitude of New 
England ; yet the use of them in a private quarrel, if it have ever 
happened, is so rare, that a late writer, of great intelligence, who 
had passed his whole life in New England, and possessed exten- 
sive means of information, declares, " I know not a single 
instance of it."^ She has proved, that a people, of a character 
essentially military, may subsist without duelling. New Eng- 
land has, at all times, been distinguished, both on the land and 
on the ocean, for a daring, fearless, and enterprising spirit; yet 
the same writer^ asserts, that during the whole period of her 
existence, her soil has been disgraced but hy five duels, and that 
only tivo of these were fought by her native inhabitants I Per- 
haps this assertion is not minutely correct. There can, however, 
be no question, that it is sufficiently near the truth to justify the 
position for which it is here adduced, and which the history of 
New England, as well as the experience of her inhabitants, 
abundantly confirms ; that, in the present and in every past age, 
the spirit of our institutions has, to every important practical 
purpose, annihilated the spirit of duelling. 

1 See Travds in New Enghinil and Neiv York, by Timothy Dwiglit, S. T. D., 
LL. D., late President of Yale College, vol. iv, p. 334. 

2 Ibid. p. 336. 



356 MUNICIPAL mSTORY. 

Such are the true glories of the institutions of our fathers I 
Such the natural fruits of that patience in toil, that frugality of 
disposition, that temperance of habit, that general ditfusion of 
knowledge, and that sense of religious responsibility, inculcated 
by the precepts, and exhibited in the example of every genera- 
tion of our ancestors I 

And now, standing at this hour on the dividing line which 
separates the ages that are past from those which are to come, 
how solemn is the thought, that not one of this vast assembly, 
not one of that gi-eat multitude who now throng our streets, 
rejoice in our fields, and make our hills echo with their gi-atula- 
tions, shall live to witness the next return of the era we this day 
celebrate ! The dark veil of futurity conceals from human sight 
the fate of cities and nations as well as of individuals, Man 
passes away ; generations are but shadows ; there is nothing 
stable but truth ; principles only are immortal. 

What then, in conclusion of this gi-eat topic, are the elements 
of the liberty, prosperity, and safety which the inhabitants of 
New^ England at this day enjoy ? In what language, and con- 
cerning what comprehensive truths does the wisdom of former 
times address the inexperience of the future ? 

Those elements are simple, obvious, and familiar. 

Every civil and religious blessing of New England, all that 
here gives happiness to human life or security to human virtue 
is alone to be perpetuated in the forms and under the auspices 
of a free commonwealth. 

The Commonwealth itself has no other strength or hope than 
the intelligence and virtue of the individuals that compose it. 

For the intelligence and virtue of individuals, there is no other 
human assurance than laws, providing for the education of the 
whole people. 

These laws themselves have no strength or efficient sanction, 
except in the moral and accountable nature of man, disclosed in 
the records of the Christian's faith ; the right to read, to construe, 
and to judge concerning which, belongs to no class or caste of 
men, but exclusively to the individual, who must stand or fall 
by his own acts and his own faith, and not by those of another. 

The great comprehensive truths, written in letters of living 
light on every page of our history, the language addressed by 
every past age of New England to all future ages is this, — 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 357 

Human happiness has no perfect sccurifi/ but freedom ; freedom 
none hut virtue; virtue none but knuivledg-e ; and neither free- 
dam, nor virtue, nor knowledge has any vig'or or immortal hope, 
except in the princijyles of the Christian faith and in the sanctions 
of the Christian religion. 

Men of Massachusetts ! Citizens of Boston I Descendants of 
the early emigrants ! consider your blessings ; consider your 
duties. You have an inheritance acquired by the labors and 
suflferings of six successive generations of ancestors. They 
founded the fabric of your prosperity in a severe and masculine 
morality ; having intelligence for its cement and religion for its 
groundwork. Continue to build on the same foundation and 
by the same principles ; let the extending temple of your coun- 
try's freedom rise in the spirit of ancient times, in proportions of 
intellectual and moral architecture, — just, simple, and sublime. 
As from the first to this day, let New England continue to be an 
example to the world of the blessings of a free government, and 
of the means and capacity of man to maintain it. And, in all 
times to come as in all times past, may Boston be among the 
foremost and the boldest to exemplify and uphold whatever con- 
stitutes the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory of New 
England. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. 

Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor. 

An Ode, pronounced before the Inhabitants of Boston, on the 17th of Septem- 
ber, 1830, at the Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of the City. By 
Charles Sjjrague. 

I. 

Not to the Pagan's mount I turn, 

For inspiration now ; 
Olympus and its gods I spurn — 

Pure One, be with me, Thou I 

Thou, in whose awful name. 

From suffering and from shame, 
Our Fathers fled, and braved a pathless sea ; 

Thou, in whose holy fear. 

They fixed an empire here. 
And gave it to their Children and to Thee. 

n. 

And You I ye bright ascended Dead, 

Who scorned the bigot's yoke. 
Come, round this place your influence shed ; 
Your spirits I invoke. 
Come, as ye came of yore. 
When on an unknown shore. 
Your daring hands the flag of faith unfurled, 
To float sublime. 
Through future time, 
The beacon-banner of another world. 

m. 

Behold ! they come — those sainted forms. 
Unshaken through the strife of storms ; 
Heaven's winter cloud hangs coldly down, 
And earth puts on its rudest frown ; 



CITY G0VEROTi4ENT. 359 

But colder, ruder was the hand, 
That di-ove them from theii' own fair land ; 
Their own fair land — refinement's chosen seat, 
Art's ti-ophied dwelling, learning's green retreat; 
By valor guarded, and by victory crowned, 
For all, but gentle charity, renowned. 

With streaming eye, yet steadfast heart, 
Even from that land they dared to part. 

And burst each tender tie ; 
Haunts, where their sunny youth was passed, 
Homes, where they fondly hoped at last 

In peaceful age to die ; 
Friends, kindred, comfort, all they spurned — 

Their fathers' hallowed graves ; 
And to a world of darkness turned, 
Beyond a world of waves. 

IV. 

When Israel's race from bondage fled. 
Signs from on high the wanderers led; 
But here — Heaven hung no symbol here, 
Their steps to guide, their souls to cheer; 
They saw, thro' sorrow's lengthening night, 
Nought but the fagot's guilty light ; 
The cloud they gazed at was the smoke, 
That round their murdered brethren broke. 
Nor power above, nor power below. 
Sustained them in their hour of woe ; 

A fearful path they trod. 

And dared a fearful doom ; 
To build an altar to their God, 

And find a quiet tomb. 



But not alone, not all unblessed, 
The exile sought a place of rest ; 
One dared with him to burst the knot. 
That bound her to her native spot ; 
Her low sweet voice in comfort spoke. 
As round their bark the billows broke ; 



360 MUNieiPAL HISTORY. 

She through the midnight watch was there, 
With him to bend her knees in prayer ; 
She trod tlie shore with girded heart, 
Through good and ill to claim her part; 
In life, in death, with him to seal 
Her kindred love, her kindred zeal. 

VI. 

They come — that coming who shall tell ? 
The eye may weep, the heart may swell, 
But the poor tongue in vain essays 
A fitting note for them to raise. 
We hear the after-shout that rings 
For them who smote the power of kings ; 
The swelling triumph all would share. 
But who the dark defeat would dare, 
And boldly meet the wrath and woe. 
That wait the unsuccessful blow ? 
It were an envied fate, we deem. 
To live a land's recorded theme, 

When we are in the tomb ; 
We, too, might yield the joys of home. 
And waves of winter darkness roam. 

And tread a shore of gloom — 
Knew we +hose waves, through coming time, 
Should roll our names to every clime ; 
Felt we that millions on that shore 
Should stand, our memory to adore — 
But no glad vision burst in light. 
Upon the Pilgrims' aching sight 
Their hearts no proud hereafter swelled ; 
Deep shadows veiled the way they held ; 
The yell of vengeance was their trump of fame, 
Theu' monument, a grave without a name. 

vn. 

Yet, strong in weakness, there they stand, 

On yonder ice-bound rock. 
Stern and resolved, that faithful band. 

To meet fate's rudest shock. 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 361 

Though anguish rends the father's breast, 
For them, his dearest and his best, 

With him the waste who trod — 
Though tears that freeze, the mother sheds 
Upon her children's houseless heads — 

The Christian turns to God ! 

vin. 

In grateful adoration now, 

Upon the barren sands they bow. 

What tongue of joy e'er woke such prayer. 

As bursts in desolation there ? 

What arm of strength e'er wTOUght such power. 

As waits to crown that feeble hour? 
There into life an infant empire springs I 

There falls the iron from the soul ; 

There liberty's young accents roll, 
Up to the King of kings ! 

To fair creation's farthest bound. 

That thrilling summons yet shall sound ; 

The dreaming nations shall awake. 
And to their centre earth's old kingdoms shake. 
Pontiff and prince, your sway 
Must crumble from that day ; 

Before the loftier throne of Heaven, 

The hand is raised, the pledge is given — 
One monarch to obey, one creed to own. 
That monarch, God, that creed. His word alone. 

IX. 

Spread out earth's holiest records here, 
Of days and deeds to reverence dear ; 
A zeal like this what pious legends tell ? 
On kingdoms built 
In blood and guilt. 
The worshippers of vulgar triumph dwell — 
But what exploit with theirs shall page, 

Who rose to bless their kind ; 
Who left their nation and their age, 
Man's spu-it to unbind ? 
31 



362 MUNICIP.AX HISTORY. 

Who boundless seas passed o'er, 
And boldly met, in every path. 
Famine and frost and heathen wrath, 
To dedicate a shore. 
Where piety's meek train might breathe their vow, 
And seek their Maker with an unshamed brow ; 
Where liberty's glad race might proudly come, 
And set up there an everlasting home ? 

X. 

O many a time it hath been told, 
The story of those men of old : 
For this fan- poetry hath wreathed 

Her sweetest, purest flower ; 
For this proud eloquence hath breathed 

His strain of loftiest power ; 
Devotion, too, hath lingered round 
Each spot of consecrated ground. 

And hill and valley blessed ; 
There, where our banished Fathers strayed, 
There, where they loved and wept and prayed, 

There, where then* ashes rest. 

XI. 

And never may they rest unsung. 
While liberty can find a tongue. 
Twine, Gratitude, a wreath for them, 
More deathless than the diadem, 
Who to life's noblest end. 
Gave up life's noblest powers, 
And bade the legacy descend, 
Down, down to us and ours. 

xn. 

By centuries now the glorious hour we mark. 

When to these shores they steered their shattered bark ; 

And still, as other centuries melt away, 

Shall other ages come to keep the day. 

When we are dust, who gather round this spot, 

Our joys, our griefs, our very names forgot, 



CITY GOVERJaiEXT. 363 

Here shall the dwellers of the land be seen, 
To keep the memory of the Pilgrims green. 
Nor here alone their praises shall go round, 
Nor here alone their virtues shall abound — 
Broad as the empu-e of the free shall spread, 
Far as the foot of man shall dare to tread, 
Where oar hath never dipped, where human tongue 
Hath never through the woods of ages rung. 
There, where the eagle's scream and wild wolf's cry 
Keep ceaseless day and night through earth and sky. 
Even there, in after time, as toil and taste 
Go forth in gladness to redeem the waste. 
Even there shall rise, as gi-ateful myriads throng. 
Faith's holy prayer and freedom's joyful song ; 
There shall the flame that flashed from yonder Rock, 
Light up the land till nature's final shock. 

XIII. 

Yet while by life's endearments crowned, 

To mark this day we gather round, 

And to our nation's founders raise 

The voice of gratitude and praise, 
Shall not one line lament that lion race, 
For us struck out from sweet creation's face ? 
Alas! alas! for them — those fated bands, 
Whose monarch ti-ead was on these broad, gi-een lands ; 
Our fathers called them savage — them, whose bread. 
In the dark hour, those famished fathers fed : 

We call them savage, we. 

Who hail the struggling free, 

Of every clime and hue ; 
We, who would save 
The branded slave. 
And give him liberty he never knew : 

We, who but now have caught the tale, 

That tm-ns each listening tyrant pale. 

And blessed the winds and waves that bore 

The tidings to our kindred shore ; 
The triumph-tidings jjealing from that land, 
Where up in amis insulted legions stand ; 



364 MUNICIPAL IIISTOEY. 

There, gathering round his bold compeers, 
Where He, ovir own, our welcomed One, 
Riper in glory than in years, 

Down from his forfeit throne, 

A craven monarch hurled, 
And spurned him forth, a proverb to the world ! 

XIV. 

We call them savage — O be just ! 

Their outraged feelings scan ; 
A voice comes forth, 'tis from the dust — 

The savage was a man ! 
Think ye he loved not ? who stood by, 

And in his toils took part ? 
Woman was there to bless his eye — 

The savage had a heart ! 
Think ye he prayed not ? when on high 

He heard the thunders roll. 
What bade him look beyond the sky ? 

The savage had a soul I 

XV. 

I venerate the Pilgrim's cause, 
Yet for the red man dare to plead — 
We bow to Heaven's recorded laws, 
He turned to nature for a creed ; 
Beneath the pillared dome. 
We seek our God in prayer ; 
Through boundless woods he loved to roam, 
And the Great Spirit worshipped there : 

But one, one fellow-throb with us he felt ; 

To one divinity with us he knelt ; 

Freedom, the self-same freedom we adore, 

Bade him defend his violated shore ; 

He saw the cloud, ordained to grow, 
And burst upon his hills in woe ; 
He saw his people withering by, 
Beneath the invader's evil eye ; 



CITY GOVERmiENT. 2C^5 

Strange feet were trampling on his fathers' bones ; 

At midnight hour he woke to gaze 

Upon his happy cabin's blaze, 
And listen to his children's dying groans : 

He saw — and maddening at the sight, 

Gave his bold bosom to the fight ; 

To tiger rage his soul was chiven, 

Mercy was not — nor sought nor given ; 

The pale man from his lands must fly ; 

He would be free — or he would die. 

X\J. 

And was this savage ? say, 
Ye ancient few, 
Who struggled through 
Young freedom's trial-day — 
What first your sleeping wi-ath awoke ? 
On your own shores war's larum broke : 
What turned to gall even kindred blood ? 
Round yom- own homes the oppressor stood : 
This every warm affection chilled, 
This every heart with vengeance thrilled, 
And sti-engthened every hand ; 
From mound to mound, 
The word went round — 
" Death for our native land I " 

XVII. 

Ye mothers, too, breathe ye' no sigh, 

For them who thus could dare to die ? 

Are all your own dark hours forgot. 
Of soul-sick suffering here ? 

Your pangs, as from yon mountain spot, 

Death spoke in every booming shot, 
That knelled upon your ear? 
How oft that gloomy, glorious tale ye tell, 
As round your knees yom- children's children hang, 
Of them, the gallant Ones, ye loved so well, 
Who to the conflict for their country sprang. 



31 



366 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

In pride, in all the pride of woe, 
Ye tell of them, the brave laid low, 

Who for their birthplace bled ; 
In pride, the pride of triumph then, 
Ye tell of them, the matchless men, 

From whom the invaders fled ! 



xvm. 

And ye, this holy place who throng, 
The annual theme to hear, 
And bid the exulting song 
Sound their great names from year to year ; 
Ye, who invoke the chisel's breathing grace. 
In marble majesty their forms to trace ; 

Ye, who the sleeping rocks would raise. 
To guard their dust and speak their praise ; 
Ye, who, should some other band 
With hostile foot defile the land, 
Feel that ye like them would wake, 
Like them the yoke of bondage break, 
Nor leave a battle-blade undrawn, 
Though every hill a sepulchre should yawn — 
Say, have not ye one line for those. 

One brother-line to spare, 
Who rose but as your Fathers rose. 
And dared as ye would dare ? 

XIX. 

Alas ! for them — their day is o'er, 

Their fires are out from hill and shore : 

No more for them the wild deer bounds. 

The plough is on their hunting grounds ; 

The pale man's axe rings through their woods, 

The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods. 

Their pleasant springs are dry ; 
Their children — look, by power oppressed, 
Beyond the mountains of the west. 

Their children so — to die. 



CITY GOVEHmiENT. 367 



XX. 



C) doubly lost! oblivion's shadows close 

Around their triumphs and then* woes. 

On other realms, whose suns have set, 

Reflected radiance lingers yet ; 

There sage and bard have shed a light 

That never shall go down in night ; 

There time-crowned columns stand on high, 

To tell of them who cannot die ; 

Even we, who then were nothing, kneel 
In homage there, and join earth's general peal. 
But the doomed Indian leaves behind no trace. 
To save his own, or serve another race ; 
With his frail breath his power has passed away. 
His deeds, his thoughts are buried with his clay ; 

Nor lofty pile, nor glowing page 

Shall link him to a future age, 

Or give him with the past a rank : 
His heraldry is but a broken bow, 
His history but a tale of wrong and woe, 

His very name must be a blank. 

XXI. 

Cold, with the beast he slew-, he sleeps ; 
O'er him no filial spirit weeps ; 
No crowds throng round, no anthem-notes ascend. 
To bless his coming and embalm his end ; 
Even that he lived, is for his conqueror's tongue, 
By foes alone his death-song must be sung ; 
No chronicles but theirs shall tell 
His mournful doom to future times ; 
May these upon his virtues dwell, 
And in his fate forget his crimes. 

xxn. 

Peace to the mingling dead I 
Beneath the turf we tread, 



368 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 

Chief, Pilgrim, Patriot sleep — 
All gone ! how changed! and yet the same, 
As when faith's herald bark first came 

In sorrow o'er the deep. 

Still from his noonday height. 

The sun looks down in light ; 
Along the trackless realms of space, 
The stars still rmi their midnight race ; 
The same green valleys smile, the same rough shore 
Still echoes to the same wild ocean's roar : — 
But where the bristling night-wolf sprang 

Upon his startled prey. 
Where the fierce Indian's war-cry rang 

Through many a bloody fray ; 
And where the stern old Pilgrim prayed 

In solitude and gloom, 
Where the bold Patriot drew his blade. 

And dared a patriot's doom — 
Behold ! in liberty's unclouded blaze. 
We lift our heads, a race of other days. 

xxm. 

All gone I the wild beast's lair is trodden out ; 
Proud temples stand in beauty there ; 
Our children raise their merry shout, 
Where once the death-whoop vexed the air : 

The Pilgiim — seek yon ancient place of graves, 
Beneath that chapel's holy shade ; 
Ask, where the breeze the long grass waves. 
Who, who within that spot are laid : 

The Patriot — go, to fame's proud mount repair, 
The tardy pile, slow rising there. 
With tongueless eloquence shall tell 
Of them who for their country fell. 

XXIV. 

All gone ! 't is ours, the goodly land — 
Look round — the heritage behold: 
Go forth — upon the mountains stand, 
Then, if ye can, be cold. 



CITY GOVERNMENT. 369 

See living vales by living waters blessed, 

Their wealth see earth's dark caverns yield, 
See ocean roll, in glory dressed, 
For all a treasure, and round all a shield : 

Hark to the shouts of praise ^ 

Rejoicing millions raise ; 
Gaze on the spires that rise, 
To point them to the skies, 
Unfearing and unfeared ; 
Then, if ye can, O then forget 
To whom ye owe the sacred debt — 

The Pilgrim race revered I 
The men who set faith's burning lights 
Upon these everlasting heights, 
To guide their children through the years of time 
The men that glorious law who taught, 
Unshrinking liberty of thought. 
And roused the nations with the truth sublime. 

XXV. 

Forget? no, never — ne'er shall die, 
Those names to memory dear ; 

I read the promise in each eye 
That beams upon me here. 
Descendants of a twice-recorded race, 
Long may ye here yom* lofty lineage grace ; 

'Tis not for you home's tender tie 

To rend, and brave the waste of waves ; 

'Tis not for you to rouse and die, 

Or yield and live a line of slaves ; 
The deeds of danger and of death are done : 

Upheld by inward power alone, 

Unhonored by the world's loud tongue, 
'Tis yours to do unknown. 
And then to die unsung. 
To other days, to other men belong 
The penman's plaudit and the poet's song ; 

Enough for glory has been wrought, 

By you be humbler praises sought ; 

In peace and tiaith life's journey run. 
And keep unsullied what your Fathers won. 



370 MUNICIPAL raSTORY. 



XXVI. 

Take then my prayer, Ye dwellers of this spot 
Be yours a noiseless and a guiltless lot. 
I plead not that ye bask 
In the rank beams of vulgar fame ; 

To light your steps I ask 
A purer and a holier flame. 
No bloated growth I supplicate for you, 
No pining multitude, no pampered few ; 
'Tis not alone to cofler o-okl. 
Nor spreading borders to behold ; 
'T is not fast-swelling crowds to win, 
The refuse-ranks of want and sin — 
. This be the kind decree : 
Be ye by goodness crowned, 
Revered, though not renowned ; 
Poor, if Heaven will, but Free I 
Free from the tyrants of the hour, 
The clans of wealth, the clans of power, 
The coarse, cold scorners of their God ; 

Free from the taint of sin, 

The leprosy that feeds within. 

And free, in mercy, from the bigot's rod. 

xxvn. 

The sceptre's might, the crosier's pride. 

Ye do not fear ; 
No conquest blade, in life-blood dyed, 

Drops terror here — 
Let there not lurk a subtler snare. 
For wisdom's footsteps to beware ; 
The shackle and the stake, 

Our Fathers fled ; 
Ne'er may their children wake 
A fouler wrath, a deeper dread ; 
Ne'er may the craft that fears the flesh to bind, 
Lock its hard fetters on the mind ; 
Quenched be the fiercer flame 
That kindles with a name : 



CITY GOVERNMENT. ;j71 

The pilgrim's faith, the pilgrim's zeal, 
Let more than pilgi'im kindness seal ; 
Be purity of life the test, 
Leave to the heart, to Heaven, the rest. 

xxvin. 

So, when our children turn the page, 
To ask what triumphs marked our age, 
What we achieved to challenge praise, 
Through the long line of future days, 
This let them read, and hence instruction draw : 
" Here were the Many blessed, 
" Here found the virtues rest, 
" Faith linked with love and liberty with law; 
" Here industry to comfort led, 
" Her book of light here learning spread ; 

" Here the warm heart of youth 
" Was wooed to temperance and to truth ; 

" Here hoary age was found, 
" By wisdom and by reverence crowned. 
" No great, but guilty fame 
" Here kindled pride, that should have kindled shame ; 
" These chose the better, happier part, 
" That poured its sunlight o'er the heart ; 
" That crowned their homes with peace and health, 
" And weighed Heaven's smile beyond earth's wealth ; 
" Far from the thorny paths of strife 
" They stood, a living lesson to their race, 

" Rich in the charities of life, 
« Man in his strength, and Woman in her grace ; 
" In purity and love their pilgrim road they trod, 
" And when they served then* neighbor felt they served their 
God." 

XXIX. 

This may not wake the poet's verse, 
This souls of fire may ne'er rehearse 

In crowd delighting voice ; 
Yet o'er the record shall the patriot bend, 
His quiet praise the moralist shall lend, 

And all the good rejoice. 



372 MUNICIPAL HISTORY. 



XXX. 



This be our story then, in that far day, 
When others come their kindred debt to pay : 
In that far day ? — O what shall be, 
In this dominion of the free, 
When we and ours have rendered up our trust, 
And men unborn shall tread above om" dust ? 
O what shall be ? — He, He alone, 

The dread response can make, 
Who sitteth on the only throne. 
That time shall never shake ; 
Before whose all-beholding eyes 
Ages sweep on, and empires sink and rise. 
Then let the song to Him begun. 

To Him in reverence end : 
Look down in love, Eternal One, 

And Thy good cause defend ; 
Here, late and long, put forth thy hand. 
To guard and guide the Pilgrim's land. 



APPENDIX. 



(A. Page 43.) 

THE mayor's IXAUGURAL ADDRESS, MAY, 1822. 

Gentlemen of the Cili/ Council: — 

The experience of nearly two centuries has borne ample testimony to the 
■wisdom of those institutions which our ancestors established for the mana"-e- 
ment of their municipal concerns. Most of the towns in this Commonwealth 
may, probably, continue to enjoy the benefit of those salutary regulations 
for an unlimited series of years. But the great increase of population in the 
town of Boston has made it necessary for the Legislature frequently to enact 
statutes of local application, to enable the inhabitants successfully to conduct 
their aifairs; and at the last session, with a promptness which claims our 
gratitude, on the application of the town, they granted the charter which invests 
it with the powers and immunities of a city. Those who have attended to the 
inconveniences under which we have labored, will not attribute this innovation 
to an eager thirst for novelty, or restless desire of innovation. The most intel- 
ligent and experienced of our citizens have for a long period meditated a change, 
and exerted their influence to effect it. Difference of opinion must be expected, 
and mutual concessions made, in all cases where the interests of a large commu- 
nity is to be accommodated. The precise form in which the charter is to be 
presented, may not be acceptable to all ; but its provisions have met with the 
approbation of a large majority, and it will receive the support of every good 
citizen. 

3I>: Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Board of Selectmen : — 

The members of the City Council acknowledge their obligations to you, for the 
attention and care which you have bestowed in all the arrangements for their 
accommodation. They tender their thanks for the friendly and respectful senti- 
ments expressed in the address which accompanied the delivery of the ancient 
act of incorporation of the town, and the recent charter of the city. 

During the short period which has elapsed since I was elected to the office* 
the duties of which I have now solemnly undertaken to discharge to the best of 
my ability, I have devoted such portion of my time as I could command to exa- 
mine the records of your proceedings, with the able assistiince which your Chair- 
32 



374 APPENDIX. 

man most readily afforded me ; and tliey furnisli full evidence of the ability, 
diligence, and integrity of those who have been justly denominated the Fathers 
of the town. 

Gentlemen, you will now be i-elieved from labors, the weight of which can 
only be duly estimated by those excellent citizens who have preceded you in 
office. You retire witli the consciousness of important duties faithfully and 
honorably discharged. Our best wishes attend you, whether engaged in pubhc 
employments or in private pursuits. May you be useful and prosperous, and 
long continue your exertions to advance the interest and honor of our city. 

Those who encourage hopes that can never be realized, and those who indulge 
unreasonable apprehensions because this instrument is not framed agreeably to 
their wishes, will be benefited by reflecting, how much more our social happiness 
depends upon other causes than the provisions of a charter. Purity of manners, 
general diffusion of knowledge, and strict attention to the education of the young, 
above all a firm, practical belief of that Di\ine revelation which has affixed the 
penalty of unceasing anguish to vice, and promised to virtue rewards of inter- 
minable duration, will counteract the evils of any form of government. While the 
love of oi'der, benevolent affections, and Christian piety distinguish, as they have 
done, the inhabitants of tliis city, they may enjoy the liighest blessings under 
a charter with so feAV imperfections as that which the wisdom of our Legislature 
has sanctioned. 

To enter upon the administration of this government by the invitation of our 
fellow-citizens, we are this day assembled. When I look around and observe 
gentlemen of the highest standing and most active employments, devoting their 
talents and experience to assist in the commencement of this arduous business, 
in common with my fellow-citizens, I a])preciate most highly their elevated and 
patriotic motives. I well know. Gentlemen, the great sacrifice of time, of care, 
and of emolument, which you make in assuming this burden. It shall be my 
constant study to hghten it by every means in my power. In my official inter- 
coui^e, I shall not encumber you with unnecessaiy forms, or encroach on your 
time wdth prolix dissertations. In all the communications which the charter 
requires me to make, conciseness and brevity will be carefidly studied. I will 
detain you no longer from the discharge of the important duties which now 
devolve upon you, than to invite you to unite in beseeching the Father of Light, 
■without whose blessing all exertion is fruitless, and whose grace alone can give 
efficacy to the councils of human wisdom, to enlighten and guide our delibera- 
tions with the influence of his Holy Spirit, and then we cannot fail to promote 
the best interests of our fellow-citizens. 



APPENDIX. 375 

(B. Page 59.) 

THE mayor's inaugural ADDRESS, MAT, 1823. 

Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, and Gentlemen of the Common Council: — 
Ix accepting the office, to which the suifrages of my fellow-citizens have 
called me, I have not concealed from myself the labors and responsibilities of the 
station. Comparing my own powers with tlie nature and exigencies of the pre- 
sent relations of the city, I shoidd have shrunk instinctively from the task, tlid 
I not derive, from the intelligence and \irtues of my fellow-citizens, a confidence 
which no qualifications of my own are capable of inspiring. 

In entering upon the duties of this office, and after examining and considering 
the records of the proceedings of the city authorities the past year, it is impos- 
sible for me to refrain from expressing the sense I entertain of the services of 
that high and honorable individual who filled the Chair of this city, as well as 
of the wise, prudent, and faithful citizens, who composed, during that period, the 
City Council. Their labors have been, indeed, in a measure, unobtrusive ; but 
they ha\e been various, useful, and Avell considered. They have laid the found- 
ations of the prosperity of our city deep, and on right principles ; and, whatever 
success may attend those who come after them, they will be largely indebted for 
it to the wisdom and fidelity of their predecessors. A task was conunitted to the 
first admmistration to perform, in no common degree arduous and delicate. The 
change from a town to a city had not been effected without a considerable oppo- 
sition. On that subject many fears existed, which it was difficult to allay ; many 
jealousies, hard to overcome. In the outset of a new form of government, 
among variously aifected passions and intei-ests, and among indistinct expecta- 
tions impossible to realize, it was apparently wise to shajoe the course o^ the first 
administration, rather by the spirit of the long-experienced constitution of the 
town, than by that of the unsettled charter of the city. It was natural for pru- 
dent men, first intrusted with city authorities, to apjirehend that measures par- 
taking of the mild, domestic character of our ancient institutions, might be as 
useful,' and would be likely to be more acceptable, than those which should 
develop the entire powers of the new government. It is yet to be proved, 
whether, in these measures, our predecessors were not right. Li all times the 
inhabitants of this metropoUs have been distinguished, preeminently, for a free, 
elastic republican spirit. Heaven grant, that they forever may be thus distin- 
guished ! It is yet to be decided, whether such a spirit can, for the sake of the 
peace, order, health, and convenience of a great and rapidly-increasing popula- 
tion, endure without distrust and discontent, the application of necessary city 
powers to all the exigencies which arise in such a conmiunity. 

In executing the trust which my fellow-citizens have confided to me, I shall 
yield entirely to the influences, and be guided exclusively by the principles of 
the city charter ; striving to give prudent efficiency to all its powers ; endeavor- 
inof to perform all its duties, in forms and modes at once the most useful and 
most acceptable to my fellow-citizens. K at any time, however, through any 
intrinsic incompatibility, it is impracticable to unite both these objects, I shall, in 



376 APPENDIX. 

such case, follow duty ; and leave the event to the decision of a just, and wise, 
and generous people. In every exigency, it will be my endeavor to imbibe and 
to exhibit, in purpose and act, the spirit of the city charter. 

What that spirit is, so far as relates to the office of Mayor ; what duties it 
enjoins ; and by what principles those duties will, In the course of the ensuing 
administration, be attempted to be performed, it is suitable to the occasion, and 
I shall now, very brietl}-, explain. 

The spirit of the city charter, so far as relates to the office of Mayor, Is charac- 
terized by the powers and duties it devolves upon that officer. 

By him, " the laws of the city are to be executed ; the conduct of all subordi- 
nate officers inspected; all negligence, carelessness, and positive violations of 
duty prosecuted and punished." In addition to this, he Is enjoined to " collect 
and communicate all information, and recommend all such measures as may tend 
to improve the city finances, poHcc, health, security, cleanliness, comfort, and 
ornament." 

The spliit of the city charter In this relation may also be collected, by consi- 
dering these powers and duties In connection with the preceding form of govern- 
ment. One great defect in the ancient organization of town government was, 
the di^isIon of the executive power among many ; the consequent little respon- 
sibility, and the facility with which thg.t little was shifted from one department, 
board, or Individual, to another ; so as to leave the inhabitants. In a great mea- 
sure, at a loss whom to blame for the deficiency In the nature or execution of the 
provisions for their safety and police. The duty, also, of general superintend- 
ence over all the boards and public Institutions, being specifically vested no- 
where, no Individual member of either of them could take upon himself that 
office, without being obnoxious to the charge of a busy, meddlesome disposition. 
The consequence was, that the great duty of considering all the public institu- 
tions, in their relations to one another and to the public service, was either 
necessarily neglected, or, if performed at all, could only be executed occasion- 
ally, and In a very general manner. 

The remedy attempted by the city charter Is, to provide for the fulfilment of 
all these duties, by specifically investing the chief officer of the city with the 
necessary powers ; and thus to render him responsible, both in character and 
by station, for their efficient exercise. By placing this officer under the constant 
control of both branches of the City Council, all errors. In judgment and pur- 
pose, were Intended to be checked or corrected ; and, by his annual election, 
security Is attained against insufficiency or abuse, in the exercise of his authority. 

The duties, enjoined by the charter on the executive authority, are concurrent 
with Its powers and coincident with Its spirit. If, in making a sketch of them, 
I shall be thought to present an outline, diificult for any man completely to fill, 
and absolutely Impracticable for the individual who now occupies tlie station, let 
it be remembered, that it is always wise in man to work after models more per- 
fect than his capacity can execute. Perfect duty, it is not in the power of man 
to perform. But it Is the right of the people, that every man in public office 
should know and attempt it. Let it also be considered, that It will be advanta- 
geous, both for the individual who may hold, and for the people who judge and 
select, that l)oth should form elevated conceptions of the nature of the station. 
The one will be thus more likely to aim at something higher than mediocrity, in 



APPENDIX. 377 

execution ; and the other, forming just notions of its difficulty, delicacy, and 
importance, will select with discrimination, and receive more readily faithful and 
laborious endeavor in lieu of perfect performance. 

The great duty of the Mayor of such a city as this, is to identify himself, abso- 
lutely and exclusively, with its character and interests. All its important rela- 
tions he should diUgently study, and strive thoroughly to understand. All its 
rights, whether aifecting property, or liberty, or power, it is his duty, as occa- 
sions occur, to analyze and maintain. If possible, he should leave no founda- 
tions of either unsettled or dubious. Towards them, he should teach himself to 
feel, not merely the zeal of official station, but the pertinacious spirit of private 
interest. 

Of local, sectional, party, or personal divisions, he should know nothing, 
except for the purpose of healing the woimds they inffict ; softening the animo- 
sities they engender ; and exciting, by his example and influence, bands, hostile 
to one another in every other respect, to march one way, when the interests of 
the city are in danger. Its honor, happiness, dignity, safety, and prosperity, the 
development of its resources, its expenditures and police, should be the perpetual 
object of his purpose and labor of his thought. All its public institutions, its 
edifices, hospitals, almshouses, jails, should be made the subject of his frequent in- 
spection, to the end that wants may be supplied, errors corrected, abuses exposed. 
Above all, its schools, those choice depositaries of the hope of a free people, 
should engage his utmost soUcitude and unremitting superintendence. Justly 
are these institutions the pride and the boast of the inhabitants of this city. For 
these, Boston has, at all times, stood preeminent; Let there exist, elsewhere, 
a greater population, a richer commerce, wider streets, more splendid ave- 
nues, statelier palaces. Be it the endeavor of this metropolis to educate better 
men, happier citizens, more enUghtened statesmen ; to elevate a people, tho- 
roughly instructed in their social rights, deeply imbued with a sense of their 
moral duties ; mild, flexible to every breath of legithnate authority ; unyielding 
as fate to unconstitutional impositions. 

In achninistering the police, in executing the laws, in protecting the rights, 
and promoting the prosperity of the city, its first officer will be necessarily beset 
and assailed by individual interests, by rival projects, by personal influences, 
by party passions. The more firm and inflexible he is, in maintaining the 
rights, and in pursuing the interests of the city, the greater is the probabihty 
of his becoming obnoxious to all, whom he causes to be prosecuted, or punished ; 
to all, whose passions he thwarts ; to all, whose interests he opposes. It wUI 
remain for the citizens to decide, whether he who shall attempt to fulfil these 
duties, and thus to uphold their interests, in a firm, honest, and impartial spirit, 
shall find countenance and support, in the intelligence and virtue of the com- 
munity. 

Touching the principles, by which the ensuing administration will endeavor to 
reo-ulate and conduct the affairs of the city, nothing is promised, except a labo- 
rious fulfihnent of every known dutj- ; a prudent exercise of every invested 
power ; and a disposition, shrinking from no official responsibility. The outhne 
of the duties, just sketched, will be placed before the executive officer, without 
any expectation of approximating towards its extent, much less of filling it up, 
according to that enlarged conception. By making, in the constitution of our 
32* 



378 APPENDIX. 

nature, tlie power to purj^ose gre.ater than the power to perform, Providence Las 
indieatod to man, that true duty and wisdom consists in combining high efforts 
with humble expectations. 

If the powers vested seem too great for any individual, let it be remembered, 
that they are necessary to attain the gi-eat objects of health, comfort, and safety 
to the city. To those whose fortunes are restricted, these powers, in their just 
exercise, ought to be peculiarly precious. The rich can fly from the generated 
pestilence. In the season of danger, the sons of fortune can seek refuge in 
purer atmospheres. But necessity condemns the poor to remain and inhale the 
noxious effluvia. To all classes who reside jiermanently in a city, these powers 
are a privilege and a blessing. In relation to city pohce, it is not sufficient 
that the law, in its due process, will ultimately remedy every injury, and remove 
every nuisance. WHiile the law delays, the injury is done. "While judges are 
doubting, and lawyers debating, the nuisance is exhaling and the atmosphere 
corrupting. In these cases, prevention should be the object of sohcitude, not 
remedy. It is not enough, that the obstacle which impedes the citizen's way, or 
the nuisance which offends his sense should be removed on complaint, or by 
complaint. The true criterion of an efficient city government is, that it should 
be removed before comj^laint and without complaint. 

The true glory of a city consists, not in palaces, temples, columns, the vain 
boast of art, or the proud magnificence of luxuiy, but in a happy, secure, and 
contented people ; feeling the advantage of a vigorous and faltliful administra- 
tion, not merely in the Avide street and splendid avenue, but in every lane, in 
every court, and In every alley. The poorest and humblest citizen should be 
made instinctively to bless that paternal government, which he daily perceives 
watching over his comfort and convenience, and securing for him that surest 
pledge of health, a pure atmosphere. 

The individual, now intrusted with the executive power by his feUow-cItizens, 
repeats, that he promises nothing, except an absolute self-devotion to their 
interests. To understand, maintain, and improve them, he dedicates whatever 
humble intellectual or physical power he may possess. 

Gentlemen of the Citjj Council: — 

In all the relations which the constitution has established between the depart- 
ments, it will be his endeavor, by punctuality and despatch in public business, 
by executing every duty and taking every responsibility which belongs to his 
office, to shorten and lighten your disinterested and patriotic labors. Should 
his and your faithful, though necessarily imperfect exertions, give satisfaction to 
our fellow-citizens, we shall have reason to rejoice, — not with a private and 
personal, but with a public and patriotic joy ; for next to the consciousness of 
fulfilled duty, is the grateful conviction, that our lot Is cast In a community, 
ready justly to appreciate, and willing actively to supjaort, faithful and laborious 
efforts in their service. 

Should, however, the contrary happen, and, In conformity with the experience 
of other republics, faithful exertions be followed by loss of favor and confidence, 
still he will have reason to rejoice, — not, indeed, with a public and patriotic, 
but with a private and Individual jo}', — for he will retire with a consciousness, 
weighed against which, all human suffrages are but as the liaht dust of the balance. 



APPENDIX. 379 

(C. Page 121.) 

THE mayor's IXATJGURAL ADDRESS, MAY, 1824. 

Gentlemen of ilie Cihj Council : — 

The first impulse of my heart, on thus entering a second time upon the duties 
of chief magistrate of this city, is to express my deep sense of gratitude for the 
distinguished support I have received from the suifrages of my fellow-citizena. 
It has been, I am conscious, as much beyond my deserts, as beyond my hopes. 
May these marks of public confidence produce their genuine fruits, truer zeal, 
greater activity, and more entire self-devotion to the interests of the city ! 

To you, gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, who have received such gratify- 
ing proofs of the approbation of your fellow-citizens, permit me thus publicly to 
express the greatness of my own obligations. You have shunned no labor. You 
have evaded no responsibility. You have sought, with a single eye, and a firm, 
undeviating purpose, the best interests of the city. It is my honor and happi- 
ness to have been associated with such men. "Wliatsoever success has attended 
the administration of the past year, may justly be attributed to the spirit and 
intelli<;ence which characterized your labors and councils. 

The gentlemen of the last Common Council are also entitled to a public 
expression of my gratitude, for their undeviating personal support, as well as the 
zeal and fidelity which distinguished their pubhc ser^-ices. 

It is proper, on the present occasion, to speak of the administration of the past 
year, with reference to the principles by wliich it was actuated. If, in doing 
this, I enter more into detail than may seem suitable in a general discourse, it is 
because I deem such an elucidation conformable to the nature of the city govern- 
ment, and connected with its success. Whatever there is peculiar in the charac- 
ter of the inhabitants of Boston, is chiefly owing to the freedom of its ancient 
form of government, which had planted and fostered among its people a keen, 
active, inquisitive spirit ; taking an interest in all public affairs, and exacting a 
strict and frequent account from all who have the charge of their concerns. 
Tliis is a healthy condij,ion of a community, be it a city, state, or nation. It indi- 
cates the existence of the only true foundation of public prosperity', the intelli- 
frence and virtue of the people, and their consequent capacity to govern them- 
selves. Such a people have a right to expect a particular elucidation of conduct 
from public functionaries ; whose incumbent duty it is to foster, on all occasions, 
amono- their fellow-citizens, a faithful and inquisitive spirit touching public con- 
cerns. 

The acts of the administration of the past year had reference to morals, to 
comfort, and convenience and ornament. A very brief statement of the chief of 
these, wliich had any thing novel in their character, will be made with reference 
to principle and to expense. If more prominence be given to this last than may 
be thought necessary, it is because in relation to this, discontent is most Hkely to 
appear. In the organizing of new systems, and in the early stages of beneficial 
and even economical arrangements outlaj-s must occur. These expenditures are 
inseparable from the first years. The resulting benefit must be expected and 



380 APPENDIX. 

averaged among many future years. No obscurity ought to be pennitted, con- 
cerning conduct and views in this respect. In a republic, the strength of every 
administration, in public opinion, ought to be in proportion to the willingness 
■with which it submits to a rigorous accountability. With respect to morals, there 
existed at the commencement of last year, in one section of the city, an auda- 
cious obtrusiveness of vice, notorious and lamentable ; setting at defiance, not 
only the decencies of life, but the authority of the laws. Repeated attempts to 
subdue this combination had failed. An opinion was entertained by some that it 
■was invincible. There were those who recommended a tampering and palliative, 
rather than eradicating course of measures. Those intrusted with the affairs of 
the city were of a different temper. The evil was met in the face. In spite of 
clamor, of threat, of insult, of the certificates of those who were interested to 
maintain, or ■willing to countenance "vice, in this quarter, a determined course 
was pursued. The whole section was put under the ban of authority. All 
licenses in it were denied ; a vigorous police was organized, which, aided by the 
courts of justice and the House of Correction, effected its purpose. For three 
months past, the daily reports of our city officers have represented that section 
as peaceable as any other. Those connected with courts of justice, both as 
ministers and officers, assert that the effect has been j^lainly discernible in the 
registers of the jail and of prosecution. 

These measures did not originate in any theories or visions of ideal purity, 
attainable in the existing state of human society, but in a single sense of duty 
and respect for the character of the city ; proceeding upon the principle, that if 
in great cities the existence of "vice is inevitable, that its course should be in 
secret, like other filth, in drains and in darkness ; not obtrusive, not powerful, 
not prowling publicly in the streets for the innocent and unwary. 

The expense by which this effect has been produced, has been somewhat less 
than one thousand dollai-s. An amount already perhaps saved to the conmumity 
in the diminution of those prosecutions and of their costs, Avhich the continuance 
of the former unobstructed course of predominating vice in that section would 
have occasioned. 

The next object of attention of the city government was cleansing the street*!. 
In cities, as well as among individuals, cleanliness has reference to morals as well 
as to comfort. Sense of dignity and self-respect are essentially connected with 
purity, physical and moral. And a city is as much elevjfted as an individual by 
self-respect. 

To remove from our streets whatever might offend the sense or endanger the 
health, was the first duty. To do it as economically as was consistent with doing 
it well, was the second. 

How It has been done, whether satisfactorily as could be expected in the first 
year, and by incipient operations, our fellow-citizens are the judges. As far as 
the knowledge of the Mayor and Aldermen has extended, the course pursued 
has met with unqualified approbation, and given entii'e content. 

In respect to economy, there were but two modes, — by contract, or by teams 
and laborers provided and employed by the city. The latter course was 
adopted; and for several reasons. The value of what was annually taken from 
the surface of the streets of the city, as well as the quantity, was wholly unknown. 
There were no data on wlueh to cstliuate eitlier, and of course no measure bv 



APPENDIX. 381 

wliicli tlio amount of contract could be regulated. Tlio sti-cets of the city had 
been almost from time immemorial the revenue of the farmers in the vicinity, who 
came at v,-\\\, took what suited their purposes, and left the rest to accumulate. 

It was thought important that the city should undertake the operation neces- 
sary to cleansing the streets Itself, not because this mode was certainly the most 
economical, but because it would be certainly the most effectual ; and because, 
by this means, the city government would actpjaint themselves with the subject 
in detail, and be the better enabled to meet the farmers hereafter on the ground 
of contract, should this mode be found expedient. 

In order, however, to leave no means of information unsought, contracts were 
publicly invited by the city government. Of the proposals made, one only 
included all the operations of scraping, sweeping, and carrying away. This per- 
son offered to do the whole for one year for seven thousand dollars. All the other 
proposals expressly dechncd having any thing to do with scraping and sweep- 
ing, and confined their offer to tlie mere carrying away. The lowest of these 
was eighteen hundred dollars. When it was found that the city was about to per- 
form the operation on its own account, the same persons fell in their offers from 
eighteen to eight hundred dollars ; and when this was rejected, they offered to do 
it for nothing. And since the city operations have conunenced, the inquiry now 
is, at what price theg can enjoy the privilege. These fiicts are stated, because they 
strikingly illustrate how important it is to the city that its administratim should 
take subjects of this kind into their own hands, until by experience the^ shall 
have so become acquainted with them as to render their ultimate measures the 
result of knowledge, and not of general surmise or opinion. 

The general result of the operations may be thus stated. At an expense of 
about four thousand dollars, between six and seven thousand tons weight of filth 
and dirt have been removed from the surface of the streets. All of which have 
been advantageously used in improving the city property, under circumstances 
and in situations in which these collections were much wanted, — on the Com- 
mon, on the Neck lands, and at South Boston. There can be no question, that, 
in these improvements, the city will receive the full value of the whole expense; 
to say nothing of what is really the chief object of the system, that the streets 
have been kept in a general state of cleanliness satisfactory to the inhabitants. 
By sale of the collections the next year, it is expected that we shall be able to 
compare directly the cash receipt with the cash expenditure. 

The widening of our streets, as occasions offered, was the next object to which 
the attention of the city administration was directed, and the one involving the 
greatest expense. The circumstances of the times, and the enterprise of private 
individuals, opened opportunities, in this respect, unexampled in point of number 
and importance. If lost, they might never occur again, at least not within the 
lifetime of the youngest of our children. The administration availed themselves 
of those opportunities, as a matter of duty, in the actual condition of a city so 
extremely Irregular and Inconvenient as Is Boston in the original plan and pro- 
jection of its streets. Important improvements have been made in Lynn, Ship, 
Thachei-, and :\lill Pond Streets ; In Hanover, Elm, Brattle, Court, and Union 
Streets; in Temple, Lynde, Sumner, and Milk Streets; in Federal, Orange, 
Eliot, and Warren Streets. The expense has been somewhat less than twelve 
thousand doUai-s. A considerable cost in comparison with the extent of the land 



382 APPENDIX, 

taken ; but reasonable, and not more tlian niijiht be expected, ■when considered 
with reference to the nature of the improvements, for the most part in thick-set- 
tled parts of the city, where the land taken was very valuable, and the improve- 
ment proportionably important. 

Another object of attention during the past year has been the drains. The 
ancient system, by wliich these were placed on the footing of private right, was 
expensive and troublesome to individuals, involving proprietors in perpetual dis- 
putes with those making new entries, and was particularly objectionable, as it 
respects the city, as that in a degree it mad«'our streets the subjects of private 
right, and as such placed them out of the^ontrol of the city authorities. 

The principle adojjted was, to take alhiew drains into the hands of the city; 
to divide the expense as equally as possible among those estates immediately 
benefited, upon principles applicable to the particular nature of this subject, and 
retain in the city the whole property, both as it resjiects control and assessment. 
In its fii-st stages, such a system must necessarily be expensive ; but the result 
cannot fail to be beneficial, and, in a course of years, profitable. During the 
past year, the city has built about five thousand feet of drain, one thousand feet 
of which is twenty inch barrel drain ; of this the city is now sole proprietor. It 
has already received more than one half the whole cost from persons whose 
estates were particularly benefited ; and the balance, amounting to about four 
thousand five hundred dollars, is in a course of gradual, and, as it respects the 
far greater part, certain, ultimate collection. Considering the effect which well- 
constructed drains must hav(>. upon the city expenditure, in respect of the single 
article of paving, there can be but one opinion upon the wisdom and economy 
of this system. 

A new mall has been nearly completed on Charles Street, and all the missing 
and dead trees of the old malls, the Common, and Fort Hill, have been replaced 
with a care and protection which almost insm-e success to these ornaments of the 
city. 

The proceedings of the Directors of the House of Industry, and the flattering 
hopes connected with that establishment, would require a minuteness of detail, 
not compatible with the present occasion. They will doubtless be made the 
subject of an early and distinct examination and report of the City Council. 

Two objects of very great interest, to which the proceedings of last year have 
reference, remain to be elucidated. The purchase of the interest of the pi'oprie- 
tors of the ropewalks west of the Common, and the projected improvements about 
FaneuU Hall Market. 

The citizens of Boston, in a moment of sj-mpathy and feehng for the sufTeiings 
of particular individuals, and without sufficient prospective regard for the future 
exigencies of the city, had voluntarily given the right of using the land occupied 
by the ropewalks to certain grantees for that use. In consequence of the exclu- 
sion of the water by the Mil-dam, a tract of land has been opened either for sale, 
as an object of profit, or for use, as an object of ornament, with which the rights 
of these proprietors absolutely interfered. It was thought that no moment could 
be more favorable than the present to secure a relinquishment of those rights. 
An agreement of reference has been entered into Avitli tliose proprietors, and the 
amount to be paid by the city for such relinquishment, has been left to the deci- 
sion of five of our most intelligent, independent, and confidential citizens, with 



APPENDIX. 383 

whose decision it cannot be questioned that both parties will have reason to be 
satisfied, notwithstanding it may happen that their award on the one side may be 
less, or, on the other, more than their resj)eetive previous anticipations. 

Touching the projected improvements in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall Market, 
not only the extreme necessities of the city, in relation to space for a market, 
have led to this project, but also the particular relations of that vicinity have 
indicated the wisdom and policy, even at some risk and sacrifice, of bringing 
together in one compact, efficient, and eonunodious connection, the northern and 
central sections of our city, so as to facilitate the intercourse of business and 
enterprise between them, and bring into market, and into use, and into improve- 
ment parts of the city, at present old, sightless, inconvenient, and in comparison 
■with that competency which must i-esultfrom a judicious arrangement, at present 
absolutely useless. 

Both these measures of the city government, relative to the Ropewalks and to 
Faneuil Hall Market, will necessarily lead to what, to many of our citizens, is an 
object of great dread, — a city debt. 

As this is a subject of considerable importance, and touches a nerve of great 
sensibility, it ought to be well considered and rightly understood by our fellow- 
citizens. I shall, therefore, not apologize for making, on this occasion, some 
observations upon it. 

The right to create a debt, is a power vested by our charter in the City Coun- 
cil. Now this, like every other power, is to be characterized by its use. Tliis 
may be wise and prudent, or the opposite, according to the objects to which it is 
applied, and the manner and degree of that application. Abstractedly, a debt is 
no more an object of terror than a sword. Both are very dangerous in the 
hands of fools or madmen. Both are very safe, innocent, and useful in the hands 
of the wise and prudent. 

A debt created for a purpose, like that which probably will be necessary in the 
case of the ropewalks, that of reheving a great property from an accidental 
embarrassment, is no more a just object of dread to a city than a debt created 
for seed wheat is to a farmer ; or than a debt for any object of certain return is 
to a merchant. 

So in the case of Faneuil Hall Market ; what possible object of rational 
apprehension can there be in a debt created for the purpose of purchasing a 
tract of territory, whose value must be increased by the purchase, which, if sold, 
cannot fail to excite a great competition, and if retained, the incomes of which, 
so far as respects the market, are wholly within the control of the city author- 
ities ? It is possible, indeed, that more may be paid for some estates than 
abstractedly they may be worth. It is possible that great changes may take 
place in the value of real estate between the time of the commencement and the 
time of completing such a project. But the reverse is also quite as possible. 
Providence does not permit man to act upon certainties. The constitution of 
our nature obUges him, in every condition and connection, to shape his course 
of conduct by probabiUties. His duty is to weigh maturely, previous to decision, 
to consider anxiously both the wisdom of his ends and the proportion of his 
means. Once decided, in execution he should be as firm and rapid as in coun- 
cil he has been slow and deliberate ; cultivating in his own breast and in the 
breasts of others just confidence in the continuance of the usual analogies and 
relations of things. 



384 APPENDIX. 

The destinies of the city of Boston are of a nature too plain to be denied or 
misconceived. The prognostics of its future greatness are written on the face 
of nature too legibly and too indehbly to be mistaken. These indications are 
apparent from the location of our city, from its harbor, and its relative position 
among rival towns and cities ; above all, from the character of its inhabitants, 
and the singular degree of enterprise and inteUigence which are diflused tlirough 
every class of its citizens. Already capital and population is determined towards 
it from other places, by a certain and irresistible power of attraction. It remains 
then for the citizens of Boston to be true to their own destinies ; to be Avilling to 
meet wise expenditures and temporary sacrifices, and thus to cooperate with 
nature and Providence in their apparent tendencies to promote their greatness 
and prosperity ; thereby not only improving the general condition of the city, 
elevating its character, multiplying its accommodations, and strengthening the 
predilections which exist already in its favor, but also patronizing and finding 
employment for its laborers and mechanics. 

It is true the power of credit, like every other power, is subject to abuse. But 
to improve the general convenience of the city, to augment its facilities for busi- 
ness, to add to the comfort of its inhabitants, and in this way to augment its 
resources, arc among the most obvious and legitimate uses of that power, which, 
doubtless, for these purposes, was intrusted to the City Council. 

Having thus explained some of the principal proceedings and sources of extra- 
ordinary expense occurring during the past year, I feel myself bound to make 
some general remarks on the nature of the office I have had the honor to hold, 
and to which the suffrages of my fellow-citizens have recalled me. It is import- 
ant that a right apprehension should be formed concerning its duties, its respon- 
sibilities, the powers it ought to possess, and what the people have a right to 
expect, and what they ought to exact from the possessor of it. And I do this the 
rather, because I am sensible that very different opinions exist upon this subject. 
There are those who consider the office very much in the light of a pageant, 
destined merely to superintend and direct the general course of administration, 
to maintain the dignity, and to " dispense the hospitalities " of the city, and who 
deem the office in some measure degraded, by having any thing of a laborious or 
■working condition connected with it ; and I am well aware that the practice in 
other cities justifies such an opinion. I have not thought, however, gentlemen, 
that a young and healthy republic, for such the city of Boston is, should seek its 
precedents, or encourage its officers in looking for models among the corrupt and 
superannuated forms of ancient despotisms. On the contraiy, it seemed to me 
incumbent on the early possessor of this office, in a state of society like that 
which exists in Massachusetts, and for which this city is preeminent, to look at 
the real character of that office, as It Is Indicated by the expressions of the char- 
ter, and exists in the nature of things, with little or no regard to the i)ractice of 
other places, or to opinions founded on those practices. 

In this view, therefore, my attempt has been to attain a deep and thorough 
acquaintance with the interests of the inhabitants and of the city ; and this not 
by general surveys, but by a minute, particular, and active inspection of their 
public concerns, in all their details. 

Although this course has been the occasion of much trouble, and perhaps 
made me obnoxious to some censure, as being busy, and perhaps meddhng, with 



APPENDIX. 385 

matters out of my sphere, yet I have Ihoniilit it better to expose myself to those 
iuipiitations, than to forego the opportunities such a course of conduct afibnled 
of obtaining a deep and thorough acquaintance with the business and interests 
of the city, which the charter plainly presupposed, and indeed was necessary to 
fulfil the duties in a very humble degree which it made incumbent. And ''-o 
more experience I have had in the duties of this ofhce, the more I feel obliged, 
both by precept and example, to press upon my fellow-citizens the necessity of —^ 
considering this as a business office, combining as indispensable requisites, — I 
great zeal, great activity, great self-devotion, and, as far as possible, a thorough 
acquaintance with the relations of the people. 

Nor is it only necessary that these qualities should at all times be exacted of 
the chief magistrate, and that he should be held to a rigid exhibition of them, in 
his official conduct ; but, on the other hand, it is also necessary that all the 
departments should be so arranged as to throw upon him the full weight of all 
the responsibility which the charter attaches to his office. Whatever has a tend- 
ency to weaken that sense of responsibility, above all, whatever enables the exe- 
cutive officer to cast the blame of weak plans or inefficient execution upon others, 
has a direct tendency to corrupt the executive, and to deprive the citizens of a 
chief benefit, contemplated in the charter. 

If there be any advantage in the form of a city over that of a town govern- 
ment, it lies in one single word, — efficiency. In this point of view, all the J 
powers of the City Council may be considered as comprehending also the execu- 
tive power, of Avhich the Mayor is but a branch. For they enact the laws which 
enable his department to possess that efficiency the charter contemplates. Now, 
efficiency means nothing more than capacity to carry into effect. Whatever form 
of organization of any department tends to deprive the executive of the city of 
the power to carry into effect the laws, or transfei's that power to others, dis- 
connected from his responsibility, has a direct tendency to encourage the execu- 
tive in Ignorance, Inactivity, or imbecility, which will inevitably, sooner or later, 
result just in proportion as the organization enables him to throw the blame of 
mismanagement upon others, or not to hold himself accountable for it. 

Within the narrow limits and in relation to the humble objects to which the 
executive power extends, its responsibility should be clear, undivided, and inca- 
pable of being evaded. On the executive should ultimately devolve the account- 
ability for the efficiency of all the departments ; and every organization is defect- 
ive which enables him to escajje from it. Every citizen, in making complaints 
to this officer, should be certain of finding redress, or of being pointed to the 
path to obtain it. And as to those general nuisances which offend sense, endan- 
ger health, or interfere with comfort, his power should enable him to ap[)ly a 
I'cmedy upon the instant, or at least as readily as the nature of the particular 
subject-matter permits ; and to effect this, not by i-eference, not by writing sup- 
plicatorj- letters to independent boards, but personally, by application of means 
in his own hands, or by agents under his control, and for whom he is responsible. 

The true theory of the form of government which our fellow-citizens have 
chosen, results in a severe responsibility of the executive power, and with it are 
identified the true interests of the citizens and the real advantages of a city 
organization. But responsibility implies a coextensive power as its basis. The 
one cannot, and ought not to exist without the other. The charter makes it the 
33 



386 ArPENDix. 

duty of tlic Mayor " to be vigilant and active at all times, in causing the laws for 
the government of the city to be duly executed and put in force." Now, how 
can vigilance and activity be expected in an officer, in relation to a great mass 
of laws, and those of the most critical and important character, the execution of 
•which is formally and expressly transferred to others, with whose execution, if 
he directly interferes, he takes the risk of giving offence to the nice sense of 
honor and right of an independent board ? The charter makes it his duty '• to 
inspect the conduct of all subordinate officers in the government thei-eof, and as 
far as in his power to cause all negligence, carelessness, and positive violations 
of duty to be prosecuted and punished." Now, how can he do this, when those 
who execute your laws do not consider themselves as subordinate, and are justi- 
fied in that oi)inion by tlie form and circumstances of their organization ? 

Again, the charter plainly implies that the ISIayor of this city should make him- 
self acquainted thoroughly and intimately with all its great interests, " with its 
finances, its police, its health, security, cleanliness, comfort, and ornament." 

Now, what encouragement is there to endeavor to fulfil these duties, when any 
of its great interests are so constituted or vested, that he has no control over 
them, nor any power of making any inquisition into their state or conduct, 
except by personal solicitation and request ; not denied, indeed, out of politeness 
and respect, but perhaps granted, not because he has a right from his official 
relation to claim, but because, on the present occasion, there exists a wilUngness 
to give the desired information ? 

The organization of the executive power, by division among independent 
boards, has a direct tendency to corrupt a weak executive officer, and to 
embarrass one of opposite character. 

The study of the former will naturally be to get along easily : for this purpose 
he will yield whatever power another department is disposed to take, for thus his 
responsibility is diminished ; and instead of a single definite, decided, official 
action, on every occasion giving security to the citizen, regardless of personal 
consequences, his course will be timid, shuffling, and compromising, beginning 
with the vain design of pleasing everybody, and ending with the still vainer, of 
expecting in this way long to maintain either influence or character. 

An executive, on the contrary, who is firm and faithful to the constitution of 
the city, will exercise the powers it confers. He will claim the right to inspect 
all subordinate officers ; he will consider every branch of executive power, ema- 
nating from the City Council, as subordinate by the charter to the city executive. 
He will claim of all such an accountability that will enable him to understand 
every interest of the city in detail. Such a course would, probably, sooner or 
later, lead to controversies concerning the rights and dignities of independent 
boards ; to heart-burnings and jealousies ; perhaps to pamphlets and newspaper 
attacks, which, if he does not answer, it will be said, that it is because he cannot ; 
and which, if he docs answer, will lead to a reply, and that to a rejoinder; and 
thus the executive of the city, instead of a simple and plain exercise of power, 
humble and limited in its sphere, yet important to be both efficient and unem- 
barrassed, may be harassed with disputes about the ])retensions, authorities, and 
dignities of rival powers, vexatious and unprofitable, terminating in nothing but 
divisions In the city, and inefficiency In the execution of the laws. 

1 have deemed it my duty to express myself thus distinctly, and in a most 



APPENDIX. 387 

uiKiualified manner, upon this point ; and the rather, thus pk.'^'^ly, because opi- 
nions in this respect are liable to be misrepresented or misunderstr"- ■■.. On such 
occasions, therefore, I choose to throw myself on the intelligence and virtues of 
the mass of my fellow-citizens, whose interests, as I understand them, it is my 
single desire steadily to pursue, and who, whether th<_^ -coincide or differ with 
me, in relation to the particular mode of pursuing those interests, Avill, I have a 
perfect confidence, justly appreciate my motives. 

The result of my experience, during the past year, on this subject, is this, — 
that the interests of the city are most deeply connected with such an organiza- 
tion of every branch of executive power, as that the ultimate responsibility for 
the execution should rest upon the Mayor ; and which he should, therefore, be 
incapable of denying or evading; — that, at all times, the blame should rest upon 
him, without the power of throwing it off upon others, in ease of any defect of 
plan, or any inefficiency in execution. 

In making these remarks, I trust I shall not be understood as not appreciating 
as I ought, in common with my fellow-citizens, the exertions and the sacrifices 
of those excellent, intelligent, and faithful men, who, in present and in past times, 
with so much honor to themselves and advantage to the community, have admi- 
nistered the concerns of independent departments. T yield to none of my fellow- 
citizens, in my sense of gratitude and respect to them, both as officers and indi- 
viduals. But the organization of a city is, in the nature of things, essentially 
different from that of a town. The relation to the city, in which I have been 
placed, has compelled me to contemplate, and prospectively to realize, the cer- 
tain embarrassments which must result from an organization of the executive 
department, varying from that simplicity which the charter establishes, as likely 
deeplv to affect the efficiency of the system now upon trial, and to encourage, 
and sooner or later to introduce both imbecility and inactivity into an office 
which can alone be beneficial to the city when it is possessed by directly ojipo- 
eite qualities. 

I have no apprehension that my fellow-citizens will attribute these suggestions 
to a vulgar and vain wish to extend the powers of an office holden but for a year 
on the most precarious of all tenures. The efficiency of this new form of govern- 
ment is mainly dependent on its simplicity, and on the fact that its responsibility 
is undivided, and cannot be evaded if the departments be organized on charter 
principles. Much of the benefit of the new system will depend on the spirit 
which characterizes its conmiencement. On this account, the individual now 
possessing the executive power is anxious, on the one hand, that none of its 
essential advantages should be lost through any timidity on his part, in expressing 
opinions, the result of his experience, or through any iniwillingness to incur any 
labor, or meet any just responsibility. On the other, he has no higher ambition 
than by a diligent, faithful, and laborious fulfilment of every known duty, and 
exercise of every charter right, to set such an example, and establish such pre- 
cedents as will give to this new government a fair imjjulse, and a permanent and 
happy influence upon the destinies of the inhabitants of this city. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — 

It is the felicity of all who are called to the government of this city, that they 
serve a people capable of appreciating, and willing actively to support faithful 



388 ArPENDix. 

and laborious ofTovts in tlieir service; — a people in all times distinguislied for 
miiting love of freedom with respect for authority. May it be your happiness, 
as it will be your endeavor, to maintain those institutions, under -which such a 
people have been elevated to so hijih a degree of prosperity ! Under your 
auspices, may the foundations of the fabric of their greatness be strengthened, 
its proportions enlarged, its internal acrcommodations improved ! May the spirit 
of libertj- and the spirit of good government continue to walk hand in hand 
within these venerable walls, consecrated by so many precious recollections. 
And when wo shall have passed away, and the places which now know us shall 
know us no moi-e, may those who come after us be compelled to say, that the 
men of this age were as true to the past and the future as to their own times ; 
that while they had preserved and enjoyed the noble inheritance which had 
descended to them from their ancestors, they had transmitted it not only unim- 
paired. l)ut improved to their posterity. 



(D. Page 1(17.) 
THE mayor's inaugural addrks.s, may, 1825. 

(ientlcmcn of the Citij Council: — 

I iiAVK again to ackno^^•ledge my grateful sense of the confidence of my 
fellow-citizens, expressed by their suffrages ; and to renew assurances of my 
endeavors to evince my gratitude, by increased zeal, activity, and devotion to 
their interests. 

Whatever success has attended the administration of city affairs, is chiefly to 
be attributed to those excellent and faithful men, who for the two years past 
have composed the Board of Aldennen. It is impossible for me to speak too 
highly of their disinterested and laborious services; or to separate from them, in 
official relations, without expressing my personal obligations for the uniform 
resi)ect, confidence, and urbanity, with which all their proceedings have been 
characterized, both as it respects myself and each other. Their persevering and 
firm i)ursuit of the interests of the city, oflen under circumstances of great deli- 
cacy and difficulty, entitle them to be ranked among its distingui.shed benefactors. 

Nor ought I to permit the occasion to pass, without paj-ing a similar tribute to 
the labors and fidelity of the last Common Council. 

It will be expected, perhaps, that, on this occasion, I should speak of the 
measures of the last year, and of the success which has attended them ; such as 
the estabhshment of an auditor's department ; the new organization of that of 
health ; the connecting the system of scavengers with that of the House of Indus- 
try ; the fiirther extension of Faneuil Hall Market, and others of a less obtru- 
sive character. All these have been conducted, as far as I have been infoi-med, 
generally to the satisfaction of our fellow-citizens ; and I know that the detail 
of results would still farther justify that satisfaction. 

I prefer, however, to occupy the present moment with inquiries concerning 



APPENDIX. 389 

future duty, rather than with illustrations of past success. The charter of the 
city has made it ineunibent on its executive officer to inform himself on all sub- 
jects connected with its prosperity and happiness, and to recommend measures 
for the advancement of both to the City Council. This injunction it has sanc- 
tioned with the solemnity of an oath. In obedience to these obligations, thus 
sacredly enforced, I hasten to a topic, deeply interesting to the prosperity, safety, 
and character of this city, which events and experience press upon the mind 
with an intense and absorbing interest. I do this the rather because the subject 
is of high responsibility ; touches some interests and moi'e prejudices; and is also 
of a nature easily to be mistaken and misrepresented. This subject, therefore, 
is one on which it is the incumbent duty of him, who is intrusted with the chief 
office in this city, to form and to express a decided opinion, and to leave no 
doubt concerning his own path, in relation to it ; and none concerning his 
opinion of the duty of others. 

What though the development of this opinion may affect that evanescent 
splendor, which is called popularity ? Of what value is any popularity, which 
will not bear the hazard of fulfilled duty ? Precious as is the possession of the 
confidence of fellow-citizens, yet even this is more worthless than "the light dust 
of the balance," in comparison with the infinite consequence of possessing the 
consciousness of deserving it. 

The topic to which I allude, relates to the effect, under a city organization, 
of the existence of independent executive boards, and the consetjucnces of the 
particular form of constituting those which exist in this city. 

The existence of such boards is an anomaly under a city organization; is 
inconsistent with the theory of, or any known practice under, such a form of 
government ; and seems also incompatible with the attainment of the objects 
which the people propose to themselves in establishing it. 

In every other city the representative body, chosen by the people, as their 
city council, has the control of every relation of a municipal character, whether 
it affect economy, protection, or general superintendence. If, in any case, it 
act through the instrumentality of boards, the members of such boards are 
selected by it, and responsible to it, in like manner as the members of the City 
Council are, in their turn, responsible for such selection, as well as for all their 
other acts, to the people. 

In all this there is a manifest simplicity, calculated to produce harmony and 
energy. The people, who look only to their City Council, know who to blame, 
if there be fault. The City Council, on the other hand, when any good is to be 
effected, is not embarrassed by fears of trenching upon rival authorities, of 
awakening jealousies, or of being troubled with contests about jurisdictions. 

The objects a people propose to themselves in forming a city government are, 
efficiency and responsibility. Now, can any have a more obvious tendency to 
obstruct, or defeat both, than an organization which severs from each other 
naturally allied portions of municipal power, and divides them out by very indis- 
tinct limits among independent boards ? Can any thing be better calculated to 
create discord, jealousies, and controversies in a community ? 

The form of constituting these boards, under our city charter, is still more 
exceptionable ; and, what is very extraordinary, is just as inconsistent with the 
33* 



390 APPENDIX. 

practice of the ancient town government, as it Is witli the theory of city organ- 
ization. 

Under the town government all the boards, of Firewards, Overseers of the 
Poor, and School Committee, were chosen by the votes of all the inhabitants, in 
a general ticket. The theory and practice of the town government was, that 
those officers, in whose character and adaptation to their office, all the citizens had 
an interest, shoidd he chosen htj the major voice of all the citizens. 

Two conseqnences obviously flowed from this mode of election. 1st. A con- 
currence of a majoritij of all the citizens being rccpiislte for a choice, the candi- 
dates were, for the most part, selected from men of high, general character, and 
from no local or sectional considerations ; whereby a very fair proportion of the 
general talent and respectability of the town was necessarily infused into those 
boards. 2d. The form of election being by general ticket, previous consultation 
was had, not only in relation to the adaptation of the candidate for the office, 
but also of the adaptation of candidates to one another ; so that the board mlo-ht 
be composed of men agreeable to each other, and thus capable b}' consentane- 
ousness of views and feelings, to produce a similar consentaneousness of system 
and action. 

The necessary effect of this form of election was to enlarge the sphere out of 
which candidates could be obtalntHl. Men being always more willing to under- 
take an office of a laborious and responsible character, when they know, pre- 
viously to their election, with whom they are likely to be associated. 

These consequences are obvious, and were among the causes of the long and 
happy organization of those boards, under the town government. 

These advantages are in a great measure, and some of them wholly, lost under 
the provisions of our city charter. 

Instead of being chosen by cdl the citizens, by a general ticket, the member? 
are dh Idcd among the wards, each choosing its pi-oportlon. The fundamental 
principle of the ancient town government, • — that olHcers, in whose character 
and adaptation all the citizens had an Interest, should be chosen by the major 
voice of all, — has thus been abandoned. All the Inhabitants of the city have 
consented to barter the common right the}' formerly enjoyed, of having a voice 
in choosing the ivhole, for the sake of an exclusive right, in wards, of choosing 
a ttcelfth part. And the power the whole people of the city once possessed of 
attaining a. certain result, conformaUij to the general loill, has thus been exchanged 
for the cliance of attaining an uncertain result of twelce particular vills, coexisting 
In that number of wards. 

I speak of these consequences with the more freedom, because I know they 
are felt and acknowledged by very many of our most Intelligent and jiatrlotic 
citizens ; and because I have been made officially accpialnted with the fact, that 
the effect produced by the present mode of electing these officers has been, in 
many instances, the openly avowed reason of declining to become candidates by 
some, and of the resignation of these offices by others. 

The nature and extent of this evil is not to be appreciated by any estimate, 
since every form of organization, which tends to render wise, faithful, and 
business men unwilling to serve a community, Is productive of mischiefs alto- 
gether incalcula1)lc. 



APPENDIX. 391 

Toucliing ilic remedy for these evils, the obligations of the city charter compel 
me to speak distinctly and unequivocallj-. 

Under a cilij organization there u no mode of selecting such hoards, consistod 
with harmony, efficiency, and responsibility, except, their election hy the City 
Council. 

E\ery other mode establishes, or gives to such board a color to assvnne the 
character of independence. And wherever this cpxality exists, or is assumed, 
jealousies, rivalries, claims of jurisdiction, and contests for authority between it 
and the City Council, are inevitable. 

The station I have had the honor for the last two years to hold, has compelled 
me to witness past embarrassments, and to realize those which are to come, 
in consequence of this unprecedented organization of city power. Between the 
City Council, the Overseers of the Poor, and the School Committee, very serious 
and diflicult c|uestions have already arisen, and are yet unsettled. Nor is it 
possible, in the nature of things, that such contro\'firsIes should not arise and be 
productive of bitterness and discord, so long as in the great interests of protec- 
tion against fire, of education, and of support of the poor, the right to manage and 
expend money is claimed by one board, and the right to regulate, appropriate, 
and call to account is vested in another. 

As 1 have no question concerning the remedy, so also I have none concerning 
the mode in which it ought to be sought. 1st. By an arrangement of the details 
by the City Council relative to each board, conformably to the subject-matter 
of its power, predicated on the principle of election by that body. 2d. By an 
application to the legislature for its sanction of those details and of that prin- 
ciple. 3d. By an ultimate reference of the whole, for the approbation, by 
general ballot, of our fellow-citizens. 

Let it not be objected to such an attempt, that it will be construed into " a 
grasp after more power," by the City Council, and be opposed from jealousy, or 
prejudice. Those who thus object, do but little justice to the thoughtful and 
prescient character of the citizens of this metropolis ; at all times as distin- 
guished for jusdy appreciating the necessities of legitimate power, and for a wil- 
lingness to yield whatever is plainly requisite for a vigorous and responsible 
action of constituted authorities, as for a keen perception and quick resistance to 
tyrannical control. 

Grant, however, the attempt should fail, what then? The City Council 
stand before the public and before heaven, with the proud consciousness of ful- 
filled duty; discharged from all accountability for the inconveniences and 
embarrassments, which cannot fail to flow from the present organization so long 
as it exists. 

For myself, whatever may be the event, I shall have the satisfaction of that 
internal assurance, which is better than all human approbation, that none of tin-, 
evils which may occur, can be attributed either to the want of anxious precau- 
tion, or to the shrinking from just responsibility, in the executive ofhcer. Nor 
have I any apprehension that these remarks will be construed into any reflec- 
tion upon the gentlemen who now hold, or who recently have held seats in either 
of those boards. Many of them are among the most intelligent and patriotic of 
our fellow-citizens. Some of them, I know, concur in the general opinions above 
expressed. The sul ject has reference to the necessary and obvious cfiects of a 



392 APPENDIX. 

particular organization of our city government, of which I am bound to speak, 
according to the state of my convictions, Avith a plainness authorized by the 
charter and required by the oath it has imposed. These obligations fulfilled, 
I leave every thing else to the candor, the intelligence, and virtue of my fellow- 
citizens, in wliich I repose an entire confidence. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — 

The events of the past years of our city organization are full of satisfaction 
and encouragement. Between the branches and between the members of the 
City Council there has uniformly existed a harmonious, urbane, and conciliatory 
intercourse. The interests of the city have been studied and pursued with an 
exclusive eye, and a firm, unhesitating step. 

Neither the spirit of selfishness, nor the spirit of party, has ever dared to 
mingle its unhallowed voice in the debates of either branch of the City CounciL 
These are proud recollections, as it respects the past ; and happ)' auguries, as it 
respects the future. 

May they continue and be multiplied ! ]\Iay the members of the present, like 
those of former City Councils, close their labors with the approbation and 
applause of the multitude of their brethren ; as those, who have sought with 
singleness, sincerity, and success, the interest and honor of the city ; the im- 
provement of its accommodations, the enlargement of its resources, and the 
advancement of all the means which constitute a prosperous, hajjpy, and virtuous 
community. 



(E. Page 197.) 

THE mayor's inaugural ADDRESS. .TAXUARY, 182G. 

Gentlemen of the Citij Council: — 

To express gratitude for this rencAved instance of the confidence of my fellow- 
citizens, and to I'cpeat assurances of a zeal and fidelity in their service, in some 
degree proportionate to that confidence, are natin-al and suitable on the present 
occasion. It cannot be expected that he, who sustains the complicated relation 
of chief magistrate of this city, let his endeavors be what they may, should at all 
times satisfy the often-conflicting passions and interests always necessarily exist- 
ing in so great a community. Much less can it be expected from the individual, 
who, through the indulgence of his fellow-citizens, is now permitted to enjoy 
that distinction. In all cases, however, of doubt and difficulty, that individual 
will rest confidently for support, even with those who differ Avitli him in opinion, 
on the consciousness, which he trusts his general course of conduct will impress, 
that every act of his official conduct, whether acceptable or otherwise, proceeds 
from a single regard to the honor of the city, and to the happiness and best 
interests of its inluibitants. 

It is with great delight, Gentlemen, that I must here ])ay a tribute, justly due to 
the wisdom and public spirit of all our former City Councils. Their harmony, in 



APPENDIX. 393 

relation to objects of piil)Iic improvement, tlieir vigilance in maintaining tlie 
checks of our city charter, and the reciprocal cooperation of the branches apd 
members in advancing the general interests of the city, without local, party, or 
selfish considerations, are facts at once exemplary and encouraging ; the results 
of which are apparent in our streets, in our public buildings, in the augmented 
value of our city lands, and in the increasing satisfaction of our fellow-citizens, 
with their new form of government. 

The unquestionable evidence derived from our recent census, has fulfilled the 
expectations of the most sanguine ; and has put beyond question, that the increase 
of this city, during the five years past, has been, to say the least, not inferior to 
that of any of our maritime cities, on the previous actual basis of its population. 

This fact may be considered as conclusive on its future prospects. For if, at a 
time when universal peace among European nations has changed and limited 
the field of commercial entei'prise, on which the greatness of this city was once 
supposed, in a manner, altogether to depend, it appears that, notwithstanding 
this change and limitation, its growth, instead of being diminished, is increasing 
with a rapidity equal to that of the most favored of our conmiercial cities, it 
follows conclusively, that our greatness is not altogether dependent upon foreign 
commerce ; and also, that the enter[)rise, capital, and intelligence of our citizens, 
determined inwards, and active upon agriculture, manufactures, and in our 
coasting trade, are producing results even more auspicious than our foreign 
commerce, in its most prosperous state, ever effected; — than which, to the 
patriot's heart and hope, no facts of a mere physical character, can be more 
encouraging or delightful. 

Similar grounds for satisfaction will be found in comparing the increasing 
results of the aggregates of our valuation, and the decreasing results of the ratio 
of our taxes. During the five years from 1821 to 1825, inclusive, it appears by 
the Assessors' records, that the Avhole aggregate of real and personal property in 
this city increased from twenty milUons three hundred thousand dollars, to 
twenty-six millions t\vo hundred thousand; making a regular annual increase 
of about one million two hundred thousand dollars. Of which increased capital, 
it will appear, by comparing the aggregate of 1S21 with that of 182.5, that four 
millions five hundred thousand have been invested in real, and one million five 
hundred thousand in personal estate. 

During this period, it is true, as is inevitable in a progressive state of society, 
increasing daily, not only in numbers, but in municipal exigencies and requisi- 
tions for expenditures, on account of improvements, the amount of our taxes 
have increased in the aggregate. Yet, at the same time, owing to the increased 
acrgreTates of our valuation, the ratio of assessment has diminished. Thus, if the 
ratios of assessment of the five years immediately preceding 1820, be compared 
with the five years from 1820, inclusive, it will be found that the average of the 
annual ratios of the former was eiglit dollars and twenty-five cents on the thousand 
dollars, and that the average of the annual ratios of the latter was only seven 
dollars and eighty cents. The ratio of the present year will be seven dollars. 

A farther illustration of our general prosperity is deducible from the fact, that, 
notwithstanding the amount of our taxes has increased, with the increasing wealth 
and population of the city ; yet the ratio of uncollected taxes lias, in every suc- 
cessive year, since the existence of our city government, been diminishing. 



394 APPENDIX. 

I have been thus precise and distinct upon this point, because discontent at 
any existing state of things is most likely to appear in the form of complaints 
relative to taxes. Now, it is obviously impossible, in the nature of things, that 
the assessment of taxes, in any great community, should exactly proportion the 
burden to the ability of each individual to bear it. Some will unavoidably be 
taxed more and others less than their precise proportion. It cannot, therefore, 
but happen, even under the best fonn and ratio of taxation, that there must be 
some, Avho can complain with reason, as there will always be many, who will 
complain without reason. ^Vith. respect to the community itself, however, as the 
best criterion it can possibly have of its i)rogressive prosperity is a regular 
increase of its population, accompanied by a regular increase of its wealth, so 
■when the aggregate of its wealth increases, and at the same time the ratio of its 
assessment's <ictually diminishes, it has the best evidence, the nature of things 
admits, that its general expenditures are not greater than the actual state of its 
condition and progress requires. But in such case, however, as ])articular ex- 
penditures may be unwise or extravagant, it is still its duty even under such 
circumstances, to exact from its agents a rigid accountability. 

Touching the expenditures of the past year, it is not known that any of them 
require a particular explanation on the present occasion. In general, I appre- 
hend, they have been satisfactory to our fellow-citizens, so far as respects their 
objects. And they well understand that it is, probably, in the nature of things, 
impossible to conduct all the details of public expenditure with that precise 
economy which an individual applies to his private concerns. I am not, how- 
ever, aware, that there have been any such, during the past year, which cannot, 
under the circums(ances of each case, be satisfactorily explained by the parti- 
cular agents. 

In connection with this subject, it is impossible for me not to notice the happy 
effects produced by the establishment of the office of Auditor of Accounts, which, 
carried into operation by the exemplary industry and ability of that officer, and 
by the indefatigable fidelity of the Committee of Accounts, has introduced an 
order, simplicity, and correctness into that department, not only higlily credit- 
able to the city, but also facilitating, in the highest possible degree, particular 
inquiries and general knowledge relative to the state of our financial concerns. 

Among the objects to which the attention of the City Council will be drawn 
the ensuing year, is that of a sufficient and never-fl\iling supply for our city of 
pure river or pond water, which shall be adequate for all purposes of protection 
against fire, and for all culinary and other donu'stic purposes, and capable of 
being introduced into every house in the city. I deem it my duty to state un- 
equivocally, that this object ought never to be lost sight of by the City Council, 
initil effected upon a scale proportionate to its convenience and our urgent neces- 
sities. Physicians of the fii'st respectability have urged this topic upon me, in 
my official capacit}, on the ground of healtli, in addition to all the other obvious 
comforts and advantages to be anticipated from an adequate supply of such water. 
" The spring water of Boston, they assert to be generally harsh, owing to its 
being impregnated with various saline substances ; and that this impregnation 
impairs its excellence as an article of drink, and essentially diminishes its salu- 
brity. In the course of their practice, they say they have noticed many diseases 
to be relieved and cured by an exchange of the common spring water for soft 



APPENDIX. 395 

water of the aqueduct, or distilled water. Hence, tliey hare been led to the 
opinion, that many complaints of obscure origin, owe their existence to the 
qualities of the common spring water of Boston." . . " The mtroduction of an 
ample supply of pure water, would, therefore, they apprehend, contribute much 
to the health of the place, and prove one of the greatest blessings, which could 
be bestowed on this city." 

I am induced to bring this subject before the City Council on the present 
occasion, thus distinctly, from having been informed that citizens among us of the 
highest respectability, both in point of talents and property, seriously contem- 
plate an association for the purpose of supplying this city Avith water, and of 
making application to the Legislature for an act of Incorporation for that object. 
An attempt, which, if made, I trust will be met by the City Council with the 
most decided and strenuous opposition ; and with a corresponding spirit and 
determination to effect this great object, solely on the account and with the 
resources of the city. On this topic, I deem It my duty to declare explicitly my 
opinion, that In such a project the city ought to consent to no copartnership. 

If there be any privilege, which a city ought to reserve, exclusively. In its 
own hands and under Its own control, It Is that of supplying itself with water. 

No private capitalists will engage In such an enterprise, without at least a 
rational expectation of profit. To this, either an exclusive right, or a privilege 
of the nature of, or equivalent to, an exclusive right Is essential. There are so 
many ways, In which water may be desirable, and In such a variety of quan- 
tities, for use, comfort, and pleasure, that It Is Impossible to provide, by any 
prospective provisions. In any charter granted to Individuals for all the cases, 
uses, and quantities, which die ever-increasing wants of the population of a great 
city in the course of years may require. Besides, it being an article of the first 
necessity, and on its free use so much of health, as well of comfort, depends, 
every city should reserve in its own power the means, unrestrained, of encourag- 
ing Its use, by reducing as fast as possible the cost of obtaining It, not only to the 
poor, but to all classes of the community. This can never be the case, when the 
right Is In the hands of Individuals, with any thing like the facility and speed, as 
when it is under the entire control of the city. 

In addition to these considerations, the right to break up the streets Avhich that 
of supplying the city with water implies, ought never to be Intrusted to private 
hands, who through cupidity, or regard to a false economy, may have an interest 
not to execute the works upon a sufficiently extensive scale, with permanent 
materials, thereby increasing the inconvenience and expense which the exercise 
of the power of breaking up the streets, necessarily induces. 

A letter to me from the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Water "Works, 
(Joseph S. Lewis, Esq.,) a gentleman among those chiefly employed in their 
original construction, dated the 21st of December last, is so full upon this point, 
that I cannot refrain from quoting a considerable portion of It. 

" Your object should be to have enough and to spare, and the calculation 
should be formed on one lumdred and fifty gallons for each family, which will 
afford a supply for washing the streets, waste by leakage, &c. ; and the expe- 
rience of this city (Philadelphia) fully justifies in saying, that it is not too much, 
although In London, a less cpiantity is made to answer ; and owing to rivalsbips 
amongst the several companies, the inhabitants have enough for drink, and for 



396 APPENDIX. 

culinary and otlier family purpose?. Yet none is to be seen in use in cleaning 
the gutters, washing the pavements, and various methods of consumption, abso- 
lutely essential to existence and comfort, in our climate, in three or four hot 
months of the year. Scarcely a fire happens of any magnitude in London, -with- 
out complaints of a deficiency of water, and I have in my possession a paper, 
containing an account of a meeting of the Common Council of London, convened 
for the express purpose of inquiring Into the cause, Avhich It does not require 
much consideration to discover. 

"/i! is from the fatal error of suffering interested individuals to liare tJie supply 
of an article of the most indispensable nature, and toithout ivhich health and com- 
fort cannot be enjoi/ed. Expense is not to be regarded. If a company can 
supply your city, they will expect to profit by it ; and this profit might as well 
be saved by your corporation. On the other hand, if it be a losing business, 
individuals sliould not suffer by forwarding a great public object; and If they do, 
the citizens will feel it by a pinched and partial supply. 

" This city (Philadelphia) has expended vast sums of money out of Its own 
resoui'ces ; and if more were required, more would be cheerfully accorded. 
There Is no one thing. In which all are so much united ; and I firmly believe, 
that. If a question was submitted to the citizens, to sell to a company who woidd 
pay back the whole cost, with Interest, that not a tenth of the population would 
agi'ee to it. The increased security from fire, the abundant supply for washing 
the streets, the copious streams afforded for baths, for cleanliness, and, In short, 
many other advantages are such, and so well appreciated, that no money could 
purchase the surrender of the works. 

" The whole cost of the water-works, including the pipes for distribution, 
previous to the erection of the new water-works, was Si, 138, 857, without adding 
Interest. Yet, such was the eagerness for a more abundant supply, that a luianl- 
mous sanction was given to the new plan, which has happily succeeded, of 
raising the Avater by Avater ^^owcr ; the cost of Avhlch may be put down, including 

the river rights, at . . S150,000 

And in addition to this, iron pipes are substituted for those of wood, 

the cost of Avhich, thus far, may be called ..... 150,000 



Amounting, In the whole, to ...... $GOO,000 

" This sum, added to that before mentioned, Avitli the Interest paid, mIII amount 
to more than two millions of dollars. 

" 1 have said thus much to hold out an Inducement to your city to persevere in 
obtaining a supply, and have held out our example to show, that cost is not to 
be regarded by us in so essential a matter. We have been pioneers for our 
sister cities, who may now practically obtain a supply of Avatei', without paying 
for the cost of our experiments." 

Other facts and documents connected with this subject will be hereafter com- 
municated, should the City Council deem It expedient to take It seriously Into 
consideration. 

Two occasions have occurred, during the past year, which made It necessary 
for the Mayor to examine, with great attention, the powers conferred on him by 
the city charter, in relation to the suppression of riots, and similar unlawful 
assemblies ; so as to be enabled to justify, before a legal tribunal, the extreme 



APPENDIX. 397 

resort, ■which, in such cases, he might pos.-;il)ly think rcqnisite. After consuUatiou 
with the best legal advisers, it was deemed most safe for the Mayor to act in the 
capacity of justice of the peace throughout the Commonwealth, which he hap- 
pened to hold ; inasmuch as the powers of the Mayor, as expressed in the city 
charter, are of the most general character, and no legislative or judicial construc- 
tion has ever occurred in relation to them. The duty of the Llayor, as expressed 
in the city charter, is, to take care that all laws for the government of tlte city are 
executed. Riots, routs, and unlawful assemblies, are cognizable only under the 
laws of the Commonwealth. By these laws, the course of proceedings, and the 
persons intrusted with their execution, are expressly pointed out ; and among 
them the IMayor of the city is not included. 

In general, it may be observed, that an undefined and exaggerated notion of 
the powers of the Mayor has led our fellow-citizens to expect a much greater 
exercise of authority, in many cases, than the terms of the city charter justifies. 
It is, however, certain, that in respect of riots, the Mayor, by the mere virtue of 
his oflice, does not possess even the power of a justice of the peace. 

It was solely, therefore, and avowedly, in virtue of a commission of the peace, 
and not in virtue of his office of Mayor, that the first riotous assembly was mdt 
and dispersed by that officer. 

Such being the relations of his power, it is obviously, in every occurring case, 
his duty to decide upon his responsibility, whether the particular disturbance is 
of a nature to justify him in compromitting the unquestionable rights and duties 
of his office, in a case of a doubtful character, by his personal presence ; or 
whether, in the free exercise of his discretion, he should leave their remedy to 
the prescribed executive agents of the Commonwealth, who can act without any 
censure from an apprehended illegal assumption of power. 

If a case has occurred, or should hereafter occur, in which any persons 
should, in defiance of the moral sense and general feeling of the pubUc, adopt 
any measures, which would naturally and almost unavoidably lead to disorder 
and disturbances, they could not reasonably invoke the aid of the authorities of 
the city, so long as the invited evil was confined to tlicmsehcs only ; but it is a 
question of very serious moment with the inhabitants of a city so distinguished 
for its religious and moral character, whether further checks ought not to bo 
pro-sided to prevent that, which has been merely tolerated, from becoming the 
source of disturbances, of danger and of disgrace to the citizens, and their 
government. 

It is my duty, only, to call your attention to the subject, and I shall cheerfully 
acquiesce in your decision. 

If the Mayor is to be made responsible to act, in all such cases, his powers 
ought to be accurately defined and his duties prescribed by law. The powers 
of the Mayor ai-e sufficient for all municipal purposes ; and it is as much his duty 
to abstain from assuming to exercise powers not vested in him by his office, as it 
is to exercise those powers with which he is intrusted. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — 

The harmony which hitherto has, without interruption, been maintained 
between the departments, members, and branches of our city government, is 
among the auspicious auguries of the future greatness and happiness of tliis 
34 



398 APPENDIX. 

community. It will be your, and my, endeavor to maintain and increase this 
happy mutual understanding and resi)cet. But didicult questions concerning 
duties, made complex and uncertain by the interfering passions, interests, and 
prejudices existing in all great combinations of men, must necessarily occur. On 
occasions of this character, those ■will be most sure to find the correct rule of 
truth and duty, who seek it with a sense of strict subordination to those moral 
and religious sanctions, under which the wisdom of our fathers laid the found- 
ations of the prosperity of this people. 



(F. Page 210.) 

THE mayor's inaugural ADDRESS, JAXUARY, 1827. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — 

It is proper, on occasions of this kind, to survey the general relations of our 
city, and, from the measures of preceding City Councils and their results, to gain 
light and strength for future duties. 

The condition of every city must be estimated from general circumstances, 
and particular flicts. Among the former are the state of its population, whether 
increasing, or diminishing; the state of its improvements, whether progressive, 
or stiitionary ; above all, the state of public opinion concerning the conduct of its 
affairs. Among the latter, are the condition of its finances, with reference to 
debt and resources ; and the condition of its police, with reference to order, har- 
mony, and morals. The advance of our city, in popidatlon and improvements, 
requires no illustration. In respect of both, it has been as rapid as there was 
any just reason to expect; perhaps, to desire. The satisfaction of our fellow- 
citizens with the general conduct of their affairs, has been indicated by recent 
events ; the language of which cannot be mistaken, and which is at once conso- 
latory and encouraging. 

The state of the finances of our city is not less a subject of congratulation. 
Their condition has been, of late, very fully developed by reports of Committees 
of both branches of the City Council. Nothing more will be necessary, thei-efore, 
on this occasion, than to present some general views on the subject. 

The character of every financial condition depends upon comparison of debt 
with resources. The mere fact of the existence or non-existence of a city debt, 
is in itself neither a matter of praise or blame. The right to create such debt is 
a power granted by the city charter to the City Council. Powers, granted to 
public bodies, are like talents, bestowed on individuals. Both are respectively 
responsible for the neglect, or exercise, of them. To neglect to use the power 
to create a debt, or any other power, on proper occasions, and for the purposes 
for which it was granted, is as truly an abuse, as it is to use either on improper 
occasions, and for purposes for which it was not granted. 

lias a debt been created, by public agents, having authority to that effect ? 
Their merit, or demerit, in this respect, depends upon the fact of its being created 



APPENDIX. 399 

for proper objects, or on a just necessity. If the objects be of a nature, for 
which it Is proper to create a debt, then merit, or demerit, depends upon the 
importance of the objects attained, compared -vvith the amount of the debt 
created. If, by creating a debt for such objects, resources adequate to its ulti- 
mate discharge be also created, there is no case. In which the power to create 
a debt can be more unexceptionably exercised ; nor can there be any, more 
indicative of the wisdom and financial skill of public agents ; except it be, when 
the resources, thus created, shall be adequate, not only to the ultimate discharge 
of such debt, but also to add a considerable surplus to the public treasury. 

The present city debt may be stated to be. In round numbers, one million of 
dollars. Of which, one hundred thousand was Incurred under the town govern- 
ment, and nine hundred thousand under the city. Of this last amount, there 
was incurred, for objects of general Improvement, . . . ii?234,000 

For the purchase of land west of Charles Street, . . • 58,000 

For the extension of Faneuil Hall Market, .... 608,000 

Constituting the debt stated above as Incurred by the city govern- 
ment, of $900,000 

"With respect to the above portion of the increased debt, which has been 
applied to purposes of general Improvement, It would, perhaps, be sufficient to 
remark, that the circumstances of the time, and the nature of the objects, ren- 
dered the expenditures of this class peculiarly expedient ; that the concurrence 
of our fellow-citizens In the measures adopted on this subject by the City Coun- 
cil, has been Indicated by unequivocal tokens ; and those measures have, subse- 
quently, been sanctioned by distinct marks of general approbation. It cannot, 
however, but be satisfactory to know the amount of the expenditures for these 
objects, which has been already paid out of the funds accruing within the years 
in which they were authorized, and the comparative proportion which has been 
cast. In the form of debt, on future years. 

During the four last years, from 1823 to 1826, Inclusive, thei'e has been 
expended 

For schoolhouses and land, SS0,000 

" engines, engine-houses, land, and all expenses of the Fire 

Department, 34,000 

" common sewers, beyond what they have as yet produced, . 15,000 
" ward-rooms and buildings at Deer Island, .... 5,000 
" widening streets, (exclusive of the operations of the Committee 

for the extension of Faneuil Hall Market,) . . . 106,698 

" paving and repair of streets, 119,900 

" buildings, and improvements connected with the House of In- 
dustry, and Correction, 90,451 

" reservoirs, . . • • • • • • • • 9,000 

Making a gross aggregate of $460,049 

In the above enumeration, no notice has been taken of expenditures, on 
account of general instruction of schools, health, cleanUness of streets, general 
police, or support of the poor, either by the Overseers, or the Directors of the 
House of Industry. The objects selected are those of a permanent charactei- 



400 APPENDIX. 

and prospective usefulness, and wliicli, from their nature, have a direct influence 
on the convenience and hopes of future times. When, for such objects, four 
hundred and sixtij tlioumnd, dollars have been expended in a course of four years, 
of Avliich tiro hundred and thirty thousand have been paid out of funds accruing 
witliin those four years, it seems altogether unexceptionable, that a like amount 
of two Itundred and thirty thousand dollars should be distributed, for reimburse- 
ment, on the years which are to come. 

The remaining objects, for which this increased debt has been incurred, are 
the lands at the bottom of the Common, west of Charles Street, and the exten- 
sion of Faneuil Hall Market. In the report of the Committee on the last men- 
tioned subject, which was printed and distributed through the city by order of 
the last City Council, it is, I apprehend, satisfactorily shown, that the fair esti- 
mated value of the property transferred to or vested in the city by that Commit- 
tee is, in point of amount, not far short of the whole debt of the city. If to this 
be added the fair estimated value of the lands west of Charles Street, no man 
can reasonably question that both descriptions of property are, of themselves, 
alone sufficient to discharge the whole debt of the city, and also to add no incon- 
siderable, probably a large, surplus to the City Treasury. Both, as available 
resources, have been attained by the operations of former City Councils. Both 
have been chief causes of the greatness of the increase of the city debt. 

To this it is no answer to say, that the property, both in the Market and iu 
the land west of Charles Street, has very intimate relations to the ornament, 
comfort, and health of the city, and ought never to be sold. Grant such to be 
the fact ; it only shows, that, while the mai'ketable value of this property is 
demonstrably more than the whole city debt, its value to the city is still greater 
than its marketable value. Whereby the wisdom and fidelity of former City 
Councils is still more apparent ; being evidenced, not only by the excess of the 
marketable value of this property beyond the city debt, but also by the great 
excess of its value to the city, considered as a property to be retained, over its 
value, considered as a property to be sold. It seems scarcely possible, that any 
public debt can be justified on stronger grounds, than can the whole which the 
city government has incurred. It has been for proper objects. It has been 
faithfully applied. It has created resources sufficient, if the City Council choose 
so to use them, to discharge forthwith not only the whole debt of which they have 
been the cause, but also the whole antecedently existing debt of the city. If the 
City Council do not choose so to use them, it is because, in their sound discre- 
tion, they believe them to be more valuable as a possession than as a resource. 
No better evidence can be given of financial skill and representative fidelity. 

In relation to our police, it is not to be expected, that a city with a population 
equal to ours can exist, with fewer interruptions of its peace, or violations of its 
municipal rules. Complaints, under every branch of police, have diminished in 
a very extraordinary degree during the past year. Those parts of the city most 
characterized by tendency to vice and disorder, have, by the vigilance of the 
public officers, been kept in a state of comparative order, satisfactory to the good 
citizens in their vicinity. 

Looking forward to the duties of the coming year, it is a subject of congratu- 
lation, that the foresight and enterprise of past years have limited to compara- 
tively a narrow sphere the necessity of future expenditures. Those great, 



APPENDIX. 401 

obvious, and expensive improvements, paving the Neck, reducing Pemberton's 
Hill, -widening Court Sti-eet, the Roebuck Passage, and Merchants' Row ; above 
all those, reheving the embarrassments resulting from the narrovrness of the 
great central Market of the city, are finished. The City Councils of former 
years have taken the responsibility of exercising the powers intrusted to them, 
with a fearless and independent spirit ; exhibiting a confidence in the virtue and 
intelligence of their fellow-citizens, which events have shown not to have been 
misplaced. 

I do not perceive that the City Council of the present year will be called, by 
the public interest, to take the lead in any new and expensive project. Parti- 
cular local improvements will be suggested, from time to time, by those interested 
in their success, and -will receive from the City Council that attention they may 
respectively merit. Circumstances indicate, that our chief duty will be to finish 
what we have begun ; to make productive the property we have acquired ; to 
improve and correct existing establishments, rather than to devise new ones ; 
above all, to arrange our resources on the principle of a distinct and permanent 
provision for the gradual extinction of the existing city debt. Circumstances 
seem favorjtble to such a system. At present, the proceeds of the city lands, 
when sold, with the addition of fifteen tliousand dollars to be applied annually to 
the redemption of the capital, and another sum of fifteen thousand dollars to be 
applied annually to the payment of the interest of the city debt, constitute the. 
general appropriations for those objects. The specific appropriation for the same 
objects, of the whole property and incomes transferred to the city by the Com- 
mittee for the extension of Faneuil Hall Market is, in my judgment, a measure* 
of great propriety and expediency ; and I recommend it. Ujjon general prin- 
ciples, it is proper, not to consider property obtained by debt as property ; that 
is, as a subject of complete ownership, and applicable to general objects of 
expenditure, until the debt for which it was incurred is paid. It is expedient, 
because such a measure would, I know, give great satisfaction to many of our 
very judicious fellow-citizens. 

Should a measure such as I suggest be adopted, it would be right, perhaps, to 
withdraw one of the sums of fifteen thousand dollars at present appropriated for 
the debt, by way of offset for the old market revenues. The remaining fifteen 
thousand dollars, with the present Faneuil Hall Market and wharf revenues, 
will constitute an annual amount of fifty-eight thousand dollars, applicable to the 
discharge of the principal and interest of the debt ; and, with the proceeds of 
the Neck lands and of the lands now to be sold, transferred to the city by the 
Faneuil Hall Market Committee, will, make a sufficient provision for the city 
debt, and relieve the annual resources of the city from future burden on that 
account. 

Should these funds be placed under the supervision of commissioners, com- 
posed of public officers, ex officio, appointed by the City Council, it would give 
a more permanent and efficient character to the system, without creating anv 
new office or expense. Where funds are vested in a board, exclusively charged 
with these dvities, it is found, by experience, to introduce order and distinctness 
into financial relations. Their general state is more easily comprehended by thf 
community, and the productive efficiency of the funds is less hkely to be dis- 
turbed or diverted, by general and extraneous financial exigencies. 
34* 



403 APPENDIX. 

Among the olyocts to -wliicli I allude, under the heads of finishing Avhat we 
have begun, and of making productive the property we have acquired, are the 
making sale of the lands ahove-mentioned, invested in the city by the Committee 
for the extension of Faneuil Hall ]\Iarket, and which, to whatever objects the 
proceeds are appropriated, ought not long to be delayed ; and the putting to use 
parts of Faneuil Hall, formerly occupied as a market. 

In this connection, lam irresistibly impelled to express opinions, which I. Avould 
willingly avoid, inasmuch as I have reason to fear they may be at variance with 
those of men, whose judgments I respect, and cross interests or views, with 
which I have certainly no wish to interfere. But the city charter, by making it 
the dut}' of the Mayor, from time to time, to recommend " all such measures as 
may tend to improve the finances, the police, health, security, cleanliness, com- 
fort, and ornament of the city," intended that, in fulfilhng this duty, he should 
follow the deliberate convictions of his own judgment. To him who holds this 
office, and who acts in relation to it u23on right principles, it ought to be of no 
consequence whatever, so far as respects himself, whether any particular measure 
he recommends be or be not adopted. But, it will always be of infinite moment 
to his sense of well-performed duty, that his deliberate views of the interests of 
the city should ¥e known ; and, fearlessly of all personal consequences, made 
manifest. 

Under these sanctions, I recommend that the subject of the uses, to which the 
vacated portions of Faneuil Hall and of the space on its western end shall be 
applied, should be considered in connection with the sale and uses, proposed to 
1)0 made of the land, lying in the rear of this (the county) court-house, and 
between it and Court Street. 

This last-mentioned tract of land is a most valuable property. It cannot, 
however, be made to produce its market worth, without previously jiroviding 
for the accommodation of the courts, which occupy the building at present in 
front of that land. 

This subject has hitherto been considered as a distinct concern ; and, as such, 
it has been proposed to erect another court-house on that part of the land which 
lies most distant from Court Street, at an estimated expense of certain!}- not less 
than thirty thousand dollars, exchisive of the value of the land to be occupied by 
the building, which, at the least fair estimate, cannot also be worth less than ten 
thousand dollars. 

The vacated jmrts of Faneuil Ilall have also been considered as a distinct 
subject ; and as such it has been proposed, that they should be fitted up for shops 
and stores also, at a very considerable expense. 

Should these plans be carried into effect, the consequence will be, that the 
city will possess two expensive court-houses, in the vicinity of each other ; and 
the city authorities will be left as occupants of an inconvenient and insufficient 
portion of one of them, under circumstances, with which it is impossible they can 
be for many years content. If the present opportunity be lost, of making a 
simple and economical arrangement, both of the public offices and of the courts, 
such as the nature and relations of this property seem unecjuivocally to indicate, 
I cannot question, that, before a very few years elapse, the City Council will 
find themselves compelled to erect, at a great expense, a City Hall : wlii'h 
exiicnse, by taking advantage of the present occasion, may be saved. 



APPENDIX. 403 

Nothing can be more inconvenient, for facilitating business, than the location 
of our public offices. The Mayor and Aldermen, City Clerk, Auditor, and 
Officer of Police, are in one building. The Assistant City Clerk in another. 
The Treasurer, in a third. The Assessors, Overseers of the Poor, and Directors 
of the House of Industry, in a fourth. Neither building convenient as it respects 
the other. Now the interest of the city plainly dictates, that the intercourse 
between these ditFereat departments of public service should be made easy by 
every possible local accommodation. By concentrating them under one roof, 
they would always be in a position mutually to derive and communicate inform- 
ation ; and occasionally to aid each other, in case of pressure of public business 
in either department ; thereby greatly increasing power, knowledge, and facihty 
in conducting it. 

Besides, not one of our public city offices is possessed of a fire-proof place of 
deposit. All the records of the city are exposed without any except the most 
common security, against the most destructive of all elements. 

These circumstances strongly impress my mind with the duty of recommend- 
ing that all these important subjects should be considered in one general, con- 
nected view. 

With respect to the location of the City Council and city offices, I conceive 
there can be no place more suitable than Faneuil Hall. Since the removal of 
the Market and the widening of Merchants' Row and the Roebuck Passage, the 
objection on account of noise in the vicinity of that building is greatly obviated ; 
and will be more, if not wholly, as soon as by carrying into effect the proposed 
Marginal Street, the heavy city and country travel from Long Wharf and State 
Street to the northern parts of the city, shall be determined through that avenue. 
Besides, the meetings of the Board of Aldermen being chiefly, and those of the 
Common Council, with few exceptions, wholly in the evening, they would be but 
little exposed to interruption from that cause. 

I say nothing, concerning the natural and proud associations inseparable from 
that ancient and far-famed temple of American liberty, because, should other 
considerations justify, it is impossible there can be, on this subject, more than one 
sentiment and feeling among citizens of Boston, and that deeply favorable to the 
connecting, by an intimate and perpetual union, all future municipal labors and 
character, with a place, consecrated by the patriotic services of our chiefest 
statesmen, and endeared by recollections of talents and virtues, which have 
identified the name of this city with the earliest, the purest, and the most impe- 
rishable honors of our revolution. 

In regard to economy, this consideration will flivor the course I suggest. A 
buildinir, capable of accommodating all the city offices, with suitable and separate 
rooms and fire-proofs, the jNIayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, with their 
respective halls and committee-rooms, may, I have reason to beheve, be erected, 
on the western end of Faneuil Hall, at probably a less expense, but certainly for 
a sum not materially greater, than the proposed new Court House ; and, at a com- 
paratively smaU. expense, probably not more than the value of the land necessary 
to be occupied by the proposed new Court House, a room, as extensive in point 
of size as that at present occupied by the Supreme Judicial Court, might be 
prepared in this building, (the county Court House,) for the courts of the United 
States ; and the present room, occupied by the Common Council, might be 



404 APrENmx. 

reserved for the Common Pleas. At any rate, when It is considered, that this 
is the only mode in which the ptiblic offices can be concentrated under one roof, 
except at the expense of a new City Hall, the evidence in favor of its economy is 
decisive. By a plan of this kind, the higher courts of tJie State, and those of the 
United States, Avill be located in one building; the city authorities, with the 
public offices, in another ; and the whole land in the. rear of this (the county) 
Court House, and between it and Court Street will be left, without incumbrance 
or diminution, at the disposal of the City Council. 

I have been thus particular in detailing my views on this subject, because 1 
deem the result of the deliberations of the City Council upon it, to be very 
important, in its character and consequences. Having conscientiously discharged 
my own duty, I cheerfully leave the subject to the City Council, with a certainty 
that they Avill do theirs ; and give as much weight to these suggestions as their 
nature deserves, and no more. Whether they coincide or difier with me in 
opinion, I shall ef[ually respect and support their decision. 

It is known to the City Council, that great complaints have lately existed, 
concerning the state of the voting lists. In relation to the duty of preparing 
those lists, and of responsibility for their correctness, the general opinion was 
understood to be, that the provisions of the city charter had made no change, but 
that, as under the town government, that duty and responsibility rested on the 
Assessors. The Mayor and Aldermen have, accordingly, heretofore acted under 
that impression; and considered their duty to be only that of revising and 
amending errors which might occur in the voting lists furnished by the Assessors. 

Antecedent to the last election, in consequence of a connuunication from the 
Assessors, the tenor and jirecise bearing of the terms of the city charter on this 
subject, were brought under the distinct consideration of the Mayor and Alder- 
men. By that communication it ajipeared that, in the opinion of the Assessors, 
" the dittif of'/iiaJcing out the voting lists," was devolved by the city charter on the 
Mayor and Aldermen ; and that the duty of the " Assessors, Assistcmt Assessors, 
and other officers of the city," was to aid the Mayor and Aldermen in the per- 
formance of their duty, as they might direct. 

Although this construction did not coincide with former practice, or pre- 
conceptions, the Board of Aldermen immediately adjourned to the Assessors' 
room, and proceeded, by a committee, to execute the duty, according to the 
literal construction given to the charter by the Assessors ; and, calling in aid 
some of the Assistant Assessors and other officers of the city, in addition to the 
aid given by the Assessors themselves, they caused lists, additional to the printed 
lists, to be made out and transmitted to the wards ; a course of proceeding which 
has, as far as has come to my knowledge, given general satisfaction, and obviated 
every difficidty which had been the source of complaint at former elections. 

The view taken by the Assessors, of the city charter, is, as I understand, as 
follows. The resi)onsibility, that correct lists are made out, rests upon the Mayor 
and Aldermen. As incident to this responsibility, it Is incumbent on them to 
direct the time, manner, and fonn of making out the voting lists. By the pro- 
visions of the city charter, they have a right to require the aid of the Assessors, 
which aid it is their duty to give. By this construction, it is not imderstood that 
the Assessors claim to be exempted from the actual labor of making out the 
voting lists, nor yet from the duty of comparing them with their books, and 



APPENDIX. 405 

certifying their correctnejss ; but only that, so far as respects their fellow-citizens, 
the Mayor and Aldermen are responsible that it shall be done, and in proper 
time, form, and manner ; and that the Assessors are responsible to them and to 
the City Council, that whatever aid they shall, on this subject, be required to 
give, shall be faithfully yielded. 

Although I know, that there is not an universal assent to this construction of 
the city charter, yet, as above expressed and explained, I deem it my duty not 
to conceal my own concurrence with it. It seems to me not only just, as a matter 
of construction, but that such ought to be the provisions of the city charter, is 
wise and expedient, as a matter of principle. It is vital to the rights of election, 
that the voting Hsts should be coi-rect. The duty of seeing, that so essential an 
interest is secured, should be intrusted only with the highest executive authoi'- 
ities of the city ; and those who are responsible dii-ectly to their fellow-citizens, 
through the process of election. 

In conformity to the obligation resulting from this opinion, the Board of 
Aldermen have constituted the Mayor a committee to superintend the making 
out the voting lists, antecedent to the ensuing spring elections. Under that 
authority, voting lists are now making out, by the Assessors, in a new, and, it is 
hoped, a more convenient form. 

B}- this construction of the city charter it is not apprehended, that the labors 
of the Board of Aldermen will be, in any material degree, increased. The 
gratuitous labors of that important body of men, who liavc hitherto fulfilled their 
duties in a manner so exemplary, ought by every possible precautionary mea- 
sure to be diminished, in order to remove objections to the acceptance of that 
laborious and responsible office. But the duty of general superintendence and 
direction, the exercise of a sound judgment concerning all the great municipal 
relations of the city, and particularly concerning those which most immediately 
affect the elective franchise, naturally belongs to that board ; and, in this case, 
seems to result from the express terms of the city charter. 

Considering the importance of the subject, and knowing that misapprehen- 
sions existed in relation to it in the community, I have deemed the preceding 
development due to all concerned ; to the Assessors, as well as to our fellow- 
citizens. 

I cannot close this address, without expressing my gratitude for the support 
yielded to me, by the recent suffrages of my fellow-citizens, under circum- 
stances, which put to a severe trial their justice and their confidence. The 
right to canvass the character and conduct of all tenants of public office and 
candidates for it, is essential to the existence of a republic, and inseparable from 
its nature. So long as such animadversions are conducted in a spirit of can- 
dor and decorum, so long as care Is taken to assert nothing but what is true, and 
to insinuate nothing which circumstances do not justify ; in a word, so long as 
they proceed in subordination to that sublime rule of Christian charity of doing 
to otkers, as, in exchange of circumstances, we would wish and think right, that 
others should do to us, they are not only to be justified, but to be encouraged 
and applauded. 

If, In any respect, this just measure of animadversion has been exceeded in 
times past, or shall be in tunes future, so far as the present Incumbent of this 
office is concerned, it will be, as it has been, lefl to the free decision of the 



406 APPENDIX. 

virtue, intelligence, and high sense of jusliee of the inhabitants of this city, 
without interposition, by him, directly or indirectly, of reply or defence. 

He, who rightly apjn-eciates the nature of this office, will consider it neither as 
a place lor pageantry and display, nor yet as a vantage-ground for the vaulting 
of unsatisfied ambition, still less as a station for seeking private ends, for advanc- 
ing personal or local interests, or for the distributing party favors ; but as a con- 
dition of laborious service, including the performance of very difficult, and often 
very dubious duties, chiefly to be valued for the opportunity it affords of useful- 
ness, and no longer to be desired than he shall be able to deserve and attain the 
confidence of his fellow-citizens, by a diligent and faithful upholding of the true 
interests of the city, and by a fearless maintaining of every essential principle 
of public virtue and honor in the conduct of Its affairs. 



(G. Page 229.) 

TUE mayor's inaugural ADDRESS. JAXUARY, 1828. 

Gentlemen of the City Council: — 

We assemble under circumstances of great municipal prosperity, and with 
very decisive evidences of the content of our fellow-citizens with the general 
conduct of their affairs. A brief recurrence to a few of the j^i'incipal relations 
of our city, will, however, be useful, and tend to strengthen pubhc satisfaction 
and confidence. 

During the first years of the city government, its attention was naturally 
directed to important local improvements, and to the enlarging of our means of 
protection against the dangers to which all great cities are subject, and which 
the form of the ailicient government was not well calculated to effect. The 
number and greatness of these miprovements and preparations, together with 
the short period in which they were executed, led necessarily to the creation of 
debt, on a scale which excited, in some minds, apprehensions ; cautious men 
began to fear lest an increase of debt would become the habit of the city go\'ern- 
ment. The experience of the past year has shown, that it is no less willing to 
adopt and enforce a rigid system of economy, than the practice of preceding 
years had shown it to be capable of using, on proper occasions, the public credit. 
The appropriations made at the commencement of the last year have been 
respected, with an exemplary strictness. None have as yet been exceeded. To 
one or two, additions will be required ; but in every instance, it is believed, it 
will be found that they have been occasioned by circumstances, accidental in 
their nature, and not within the control of the expending authority ; ani that 
they can be supplied by the transfer of the surplus, existing in other appropria- 
tions. There can scarcely be expected, in any future year, a greater exactness 
'n\ this respect than the past has exhibited. 

The measures adopted by the last City Council to give a permanent and 
efficient character to the reduction of the city debt, have been attended with all 



APPENDIX. 407 

the success ■wliicli was anticlpatcil. Before the current financial year closes, 
more than one hundred thousand dollars of the preexisting city debt M-ill be 
discharged. It requires only a steady ^perseverance in the same system, to place 
the resources of the city on an enviable and satisfactory foundation. 

The diminution of the number of complaints in every branch of police, indi- 
cates a very general content mth its administration. In no preceding year has 
the general order been better maintained. Nor, in a population so great, and 
rapidly increasing, can it be expected that vice and crime should be less obtru- 
sive, or more restrained. 

It is a subject of congratulation, that the new arrangements in our health 
department, whereby responsibility and efficiency have been endeavored to be 
obtained by the concentration of its powers in the Board of Aldermen, the health 
physician and jjolice officer, should have resulted in such apparent advantage. 
Notwithstanding a constant and increasing intercourse with Halifax, a city 
suffering under the most malign form of the smallpox, — notwithstanding the 
same disorder has been brought to this city in repeated instances, from that and 
fi'om other cities, — and notwithstanding it has appeared with some activity in 
towns in our immediate vicinity, yet by the vigilance of the health department 
every occurring case has been detected, insulated, or removed. Until the last 
week, no instance of its having been communicated within this city, is known or 
suspected. The circumstances of that week have been the subject of a public 
official statement. Since that publication, only one case has occurred, and that 
has been promptly removed to the island. Nor is any case now known, or 
believed to exist within the city. 

Although great credit is due to the health physician and police officer, for 
their vigilance and activity, yet it cannot be questioned that their labors have 
been diminished and their success facilitated by the general vaccination, which 
took place under the authority of former City Councils. 

The state of the hospital at Rainsford's Island, and its general police, so far as 
depends on the health physician and island keeper, is very satisfactory. Appli- 
cations from the local authority of several towns in this vicinity, to transfer their 
infected citizens to that establishment, have been promptly granted. The wil- 
lingness with which those citizens have permitted themselves to be thus trans- 
feiTcd, and even the desire, exhibited by some of them, who were individuals 
of great respectability in their respective towns, to avail of this pi-ivilege, in 
preference to remaining insulated in their own vicinity, strongly indicates the 
satisfaction of the public with that estabhshment, and their confidence in the 
professional ability with Avhich it is conducted. 

The general state of the health of the city is not only a subject of devout 
thankfulness, but is also a circumstance not to be omitted, in estimating the 
effects of the general arrangements of its police. Tables, founded on the bills 
of mortality of this city, and constructed on the iisual princijjles, show that for 
the four years past, from 1824 to 1827 inclusive, the annual average proportion 
of deaths to population has not only been less than that in any antecedent year, 
but it is believed less than that of any other city of equal population on record. 

The bills of mortality of this place, and calculations made on them for the 
eleven years, from 1813 to 1823, inclusive, show, that the annual average pro- 
portion of deaths to population was about one m forty-tKO. 



408 APPENDIX. 

Similar estimafos on the bills of mortality of this city since 1823, sliow, that 
this annual average proportion was for the four years, from 1824 to 1827 inclu- 
sive, less than one in fort ij-eitjht ; for the three years from 1825 to 1827 inclusive, 
. less than one in Jifly ; for the two years from 1826 to 1827 inclusive, less than 
one in Jt ft y-Jive ; and for the last year, 1827, scarcely 0}ie In sixty-three. 

Upon the usual estimates of this nature, a city of equal population, in ■which 
this annual average should not exceed one in forty-seven would be considered as 
enjoying an exti'abrdinary degree of health. 

Calculations of this kind are necessai'ily general, and exactness in precise 
results, owing to the uncertainty in the annual increase of population, cannot be 
expected. Enough appears, however, from unquestionable data, to justify the 
position, that, since the year 1823, this city has enjoyed an uncommon and 
gradually increasing state of general health, and that for the last two years it has 
been unexampled. 

It will be recollected by the City Council, that, in the year 1823, a systematic 
cleansing of the city, and removal of noxious animal and vegetable substances 
was adopted under their auspices, and have been persevered in to this jjeriod, 
with no inconsiderable trouble and expense. Now, although it would be too 
much to attribute the whole of this important improvement in the general health 
of this city to these measures, yet when a new system was at that period adopted, 
having for its express object this very effect, — the prevention of disease, by an. 
edicient and timely removal of nuisances, it is just and reasonable to claim for 
those preventive measures, and credit to them, a portion of that freedom from 
disease, which has, subsequently to their adoption, resulted, in a degree, so very 
extraordinary. It is proper to adduce this state of things, by way of encourage- 
ment to persevere in a system, which has its foundation In the plainest principles 
of nature and reason, and which Is so apparently justified by effects. 

I am thus distinct in alluding to this subject, because the removal of the 
nuisances of a city Is a laborious, difficult, and repidslve service, requiring much 
previous arrangement, and constant vigilance, and Is attended with frequent 
disappointment of endeavors ; whence it happens, that there is a perpetual 
natural tendency, in those intrusted with munlciiial affairs, to throw the trouble 
and responsibility of it upon subordinate agents and contractors, and very plau- 
sible arguments of economy may be adduced in favor of such a system. But, if 
experience and reflection have given certainty to mj' mind upon any subject, it is 
upon this : that upon the right conduct of this branch of police, the executive powers 
of a city should be made directly responsible, more than for any other; and that 
it can never, for any great length of time, be executed well, except by agents 
under Its immediate control, and whose labors it may command, at all times, in 
any way, which the necessities continually varying, and often Impossible to be 
anticipated, of a city. In this respect, require. 

In the whole sphere of municipal duties, there are none more important than 
those which relate to the removal of those substances, whose exhalations inju- 
riously affect the air. A pure atmosphere is to a city, what a good conscience 
is to an Individual ; a perpetual source of comfort, tranquillity, and self-respect. 

The general confidence resulting from our Fire Department Is an ample justi- 
fication of the great expenditures which have been made, In bringing it to that 
state of preparation and efficiency, in which it now exists. Besides the sense 



APPENDIX. 409 

of security it has induced, the direct pecuniar}- gain to the community is capable 
of being very satisfactorily estimated. Since the renovation of that department, 
and its establishment on its present footing, the rates of insurance on real pro- 
perty within this city have been reduced twenty per cent. I am authorized by 
several presi<lents of our principal insurance offices to state, that this reduction 
has been t^olelij owing to confidence in the present efficiency of that department. 
The saving in this reduction of premium alone is stated by them not to be less 
on the insurable real estate of this city than ten thousand dollars annually ; in 
other words, it is ecjual to a remuneration, in three years, for the whole cost of 
the department. It is now distinguished not only for the efficiency of its 
engines and apparatus, but by its exemplaiy spirit of discipline. The utmost 
harmony also exists among its members, officers, and companies. 

The expediency and mode of still farther extending our present system of 
public schools, so as to embrace higher branches than those at present taught in 
them will, probably, in some form, be brought before the City Council. 

In a city, which already expends sixtij thousand dollars annually on its pubHc 
schools, which has a capital of certainly not less than two hundred thousand 
dollars Invested in schoolhouses alone, and whose expenses under this head must, 
from the increasing nature of its population, unavoidably increase every year, 
attempts to extend the existing system of Instruction must necessarily give occa- 
sion to much solicitude and reflection. The great interest and duty of society, 
and its great object in establishing public schools, is, to elevate as highly as 
possible the intellectual and moral condition of the mass of the community. To 
this end, our institutions are so constituted as to put every necessary branch of 
elementary instruction within the reach of every citizen, and to infuse, by the 
books read and branches taught in them, similar general views of duty and 
morals ; and similar general principles, relative to social order, happiness, and 
obligation, throughout the whole society. Such is the present general character 
of our common schools ; so called, because they arc the common right and com- 
mon property of every citizen. If other and higher branches of instruction are 
to be added to those embraced by our present system of public education, it 
deserves serious consideration, whether the duty and interest of society does not 
require, that they should be added to our common schools, and enjoyed on the 
same equal principles of common right and common property. In other words, 
whether the new branches shall not be for the benefit of the children of the 
whole community, and not for the benefit of the children of comparatively 
a few. 

Every school, the admission to which is predicated upon the principles of 
requiring higher attainments, at a specified age or period of life, than the mass 
of children in the ordinary course of school Instruction at that age or period can 
attain, is in fact a school for the benefit of the few, and not for the benefit of the 
many. Parents, who, having been liighly educated themselves are, therefore, 
capable of forcing the education of their own children ; parents, whose pecuniary 
ability enables them to educate their children at private schools, or who by 
domestic instruction are able to aid their advancement in the pubUc schools, 
will for the most part enjoy the whole privilege. In form it may be general, but 
it will be in fact exclusive. The sound principle upon this subject seems to be^ 
that the standard of public education should be raised to the greatest desirable 



410 APPENDIX. 

and practieable height ; but that it should be effected by raising the standard of 
our common schools. 

Amon^ the general principles of public policy, by which the prosperity of cities 
is effected, there is one, which, by many of our citizens, and those of great 
wealth and respectability, is considered to be onerous and oppressiye, and which, 
it is thought, has a material and injurious influence on the advancement of a city 
like ours, engaged in an active mercantile competition with intelligent and enter- 
prising rival cities, in which no such principle of public policy exists. Although 
the subject properly belongs to the sphei-e of State legislation, yet as the mis- 
chief is thought chiefly to affect this city, it seems desirable, and would give 
satisfaction to a very great class of our fellow-citizens, to have the practicability 
of a change in this principle submitted to the test of a public examination. 

I allude to the system of assessing faxes on the principle of an arbitrary 
valuation, icifJiout relief. 

Although the formal provisions of the law are so framed as to conceal the 
character of the principle, yet it is practically that which I have stated. It is a 
valuation arbitrary in its nature, and, in point of fact, without relief. 

The character of the prindple is concealed by the opportunity which is form- 
ally given to every individual, if he pleases, to exhibit previous to assessment, 
perfect lists of his estate. On his neglect of this opportunity the right to doom, 
that is, ai-bitrarily to value and assess, is assumed and justified. 

Now, it is notorious, that, in every great mercantile city, such an exhibit 
would, if made truly, as it respects many, be "ruinous ; that, as it respects very 
many, it is absolutely impracticable, and that a public annual development of 
the exact relation of his resources, would disastrously affect almost every man 
of property in society, either by embarrassing his operations, or by needlessly 
exposing his condition to the curious, the envious, or the inimical. When, 
therefore, the law offers an opportunity to exhibit true lists of their property, as 
a privilege of which multitudes cannot avail themselves, and which it is the inte- 
rest of every man in society to reject, it offers a shadow and not a substance ; it is 
only a formal and not a real privilege. And, when it founds the right arbitrarily 
to assess, on the neglect of an opportunity of such a character, it exercises in effect 
a despotic power, not the less objectionable on account of its being veiled under 
the pretence of being justified by failure to perform an impracticable or ruinous 
condition. To show that such is the practical character of this principle, it will 
be sufficient simply to state, that the last year an uncommon number of per- 
sons and a greater amount of property was exhibited in previous lists than in 
any antecedent year in this city, yet that out of more than twelve thousand tax- 
able persons only tioenty-six gave in such lists, and in a city the valuation of 
which exceeded sixty-five thousand of dollars, the amount exhibited in these 
lists was only /o!/r Imndred and three thousand. A more direct proof, how nomi- 
nal and fallacious this privilege to exhibit is universally deemed, could not be 
adduced. It is, in effect, an arbitrary valuation, and it is without relief. For 
if this fallacious privilege be neglected, the Courts are by statute provision 
prohibited from making abatements ; and in our convention of Assessors, in aU 
cases above sixteen dollars, it is practically a settled principle, that such neglect 
precludes the applicant from the privilege of abatement. 

Did the effect of these principles terminate with the individual, it would be of 



APPENDIX. 411 

less importance ; but It reacts upon society, and especially on a mercantile com- 
munity, whose prosperity must necessarily be affected by it, in a greater or less 
degree. 

It should be the settled policy of mercantile cities to allure and detain capital- 
ists. Of all classes of men, these are the quickest to discern, and are in a situa- 
tion the most favorable to take advantage of, the relative principles which tbe 
laws and policy of different cities api)ly to their condition. Their activity, enter- 
prise, and cajjital, give life and support to the industry of the laboring and 
mechanic classes. Whatever drives capitalists from a city, or makes them 
discontented with it, has a direct tendency to deprive those classes of their best 
hopes. Now, what can have a more direct and natural tendency to such an 
effect than the certainty that there is no escape from an arbitrary valuation and 
assessment, except compUance with a condition which Is ruinous to some, imprac- 
ticable to others, and repulsive to all ? Unless indeed it be a further certamty, 
•which In this case also exists, that from such an assessment, once made, there is 
absolutely no hope of relief ! 

That this city has lost important and valuable citizens and great capitalists, In 
consequence of the operation of this principle, is a known fact. How many more 
have been deterred from uniting their destinies with ours, and have been led by 
it to place their capital in employ in other cities. It is not possible to esthnate ; 
but that there have been such is also positively known. 

Other great cities, our neighbors and honorable rivals, have no such arbitrary 
principle connected with their system of assessment. Having opened a corre- 
spondence with the respective Mayors of New York, PhUadelpliIa, and Balti- 
more on the subject, they have each of them, with great promptitude and polite- 
ness, transmitted a transcript of the principles and course of proceedings of their 
respective cities in relation to assessments. 

In all of these cities there seems to exist a general content with the principle 
on which assessment is made, whatever discontent may individually exist in the 
application of it. In neither of them is any exhibit of personal property required 
antecedent to assessment. In all of them, previously to finally closing the assess- 
ment, an opportunity Is given to those who deem themselves aggrieved, to be 
heard, and to have the assessment modified, accorcUng to the truth of their case. 

The subject has great relations. I refer to it out of respect to an opinion, 
very general in this city, that our principles of taxation are Injurious to its pros- 
perity. It is a subject worthy of deliberate consideration, and an examination 
into It would give to many good citizens great satisfaction, even should the result 
be, that a change was impracticable or inexpedient. 

For the renewed evidences I have recently received of the confidence of my 
fello'w-cltlzens, I can only renew the assurance of a life and thoughts exclusively 
devoted to understand and pursue their best interests. 



412 APPENDIX. 



(H. Page 132.) 

MESSAGE OF THE MAYOR TO THE CITY COTJNCIL, RECOMMEXDIXG THE 
EXTEXSIOX OP THE PLAN OF IMrKOVEMENT TO BUTLER's ROW, AND 
EXPLAINING THE MOTIVES OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THIS RECOMMEND- 
ATION. 

Gentlemen of' the City Council: — 

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on the subjeet of the extension of Faneuil 
Hall Marki't, on the 22d instant, the following vote was passed ; and the ]\Iayor 
•was requested to eall a special meeting of the City Council, for the purpose of 
communicating to them the subject and proposition contained in that vote. In 
obedience to that request, the present meeting has been called. 

The vote above alluded to is expressed in the following terms : — " ^\niereas 
counter propositions have been made to this Committee, relative to the purchase 
of lands adjoining the jiresent improvements, now progressing in the vicinity of 
Faneuil Hall Market ; and whereas this Committee are unanunously of opinion, 
that it will be for the interest of the city that this Committee should be enabled to 
meet and close on behalf of the city with one or other of those propositions, 
thereupon voted, unanimously, — 

" That the Chairman communicate the above fact to the City Council, 
and state to them, that by the power to make further purchases of land to an 
amount not exceeding two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, great and 
permanently useful improvements and additions may be made to the proposed 
market accommodations, without any uUimate cost, and with certain ultimate gain 
to the city." 

In communicating this vote to the City Council, I deem it my duty to make 
such a development of the objects of that vote as the nature of the subject per- 
mits, and as the nature also of the power suggested requires. 

A suspension of the sales of the sites for the south block of store lots now 
remaining to be sold by the city, according to the former plan exhibited to the 
City Council, has taken place, partly by reason of the unsettled state of that part 
of the city property which is contracted for with the Long Wharf proprietary, 
and partly on account of the opportunity which the general state of the property 
lying immediately south of the site of the proposed block of stores presented for 
most advantageous unprovements in the plan, and increase of the accommoda- 
tions of the New Market- House and streets, as well as for a most convenient and 
useful general arrangement of the land, included between Butler's Row, and the 
land leading to Bray's Wharf. 

In contemplating the plan of the New]\Iarket and streets adjacent, as formerly 
presented, and on considering it in connection with its other relations, your 
Conmiittee were of opinion, that, although the improvements effected by that 
plan were of a great and very satisfactory character, yet, that when considered 
in connection with the concentration of business which must result to this part 
of the city in consequence of the location of the New INIarket there, and of the 
creation of a new wharf on the city flats to the eastward, which at no distant 
period could not fail to take place, as well as from the opening of that great 



APPENDIX. 413 

sixty-five feet avenue from Long Whaif eastward to the New Market, about to 
form the principal route of the business between the north part of the city and 
State, India, and Broad Streets. They were also of opinion, that the street to 
the southward of the New Market, called on the plan " South Market Street," 
was much too narrow for that great influx of city trucks and carts, and of country 
teams and wagons, which the union of commerce and the market would occasion 
in that street and vicinity. 

Upon the plan above-mentioned, " South IMarket Street " was only " sixty feet " 
wide. It was obvious to j-our Committee, that if this street could be widened to 
the extent of at least one hundred feet, the contemplated accommodation of our 
country brethren in their attendance on the market, as well as of our citizens, 
would be greatly increased ; and that whenever the new wharf at the eastward 
on the city flats should be built, the space thus obtained in streets would be 
highly desirable, if not absolutely necessary, for the great concentration of busi- 
ness above stated, which would be eff'ected in that street and \'icinity. In addi- 
tion to these considerations, others of a prospective and more general character 
presented themselves. 

It was found by calculation, made on the present dcftnand of meat and vege- 
table stalls, that those contained in the New jNIarket House were no more than 
sufficient for the actual existing state of the city, with its present population ; 
and that, if any extension of the market accommodation should by the progress 
of society become necessary, the city authorities would have no other means to 
effect it than by trenching in upon the width of a " sixty feet street," which, it 
was agreed on all sides, was sufficiently narrow for the business for which it was 
about to be the scene, and to form the sphere. By effecting an augmentation 
of that street to at least one hundred feet, this inconvenience would be obviated. 
Those, Avho should come after us, naight at any time add to the Market House 
now building,' should the growth of the city require, a width of thirty or forty 
feet through its whole length, and a street sixty or seventy feet wide would 
remain entire for the accommodation of the public. 

Other considerations of a more general character presented themselves to the 
Committee. It was ob^'ious to their reflection and observation, that there were 
reasons and opportunities in the progress of societies, and cities,, as well as of 
individuals, by which, according as they were seized and improved, or suffered 
to escape and be neglected, their character and destinies were shaped and esta- 
bHshed. It also could not but be perceived by them, that among the circum- 
stances which had a tendency to incommode and restrict the apparent tendencies 
to the growth of the city of Boston, was the narrowness and crookedness of its 
streets, and its want of great squares and wide public spaces for the accommoda- 
tion of the business of citizens. It was plain to your Committee, that no oppor- 
tunity should be suffered to pass, without being availed of, for the pui-pose of 
relieving the city from this discredit and these disadvantages. And they could 
not but be struck with the singular coincidence of season, places, and opportunity, 
which the new improvements and the general state of the real property about 
Faneuil Hall Market offered for these purposes. 

1 This sti-eet, having been subsequently laid out by the Surveyors of Highways, 
the use of it here suggested is probably precluded, 

35* 



414 APPENDIX. 

At the moment ■when a new orfranization of the government has given to the 
authorities of Boston a greater efliciency, the state of the capital and enterprise, 
as well as the prevailing harmony and union in relation to public improvements 
among the citizens, has given a willingness to cooperate in them, altogether 
unexampled. The present, therefore, it is very apparent, is one of those seasons 
and ojiportunities in the progress of this city, on the neglect or improvement 
of which materially depends its chai'acter and destiny. 

The place, also, on which the proposed improvements were carrying on, was, 
in the opinion of the Conomittec, peculiarly favorable to excite interest and union 
of sentiment among the citizens, as well as to stinuilate to a further extension of 
similar improvements, on a scale highly honorable to the character of the city, 
and beneficial as it respects its future prosjiects. 

Faneuil Hall Market is so located with respect to the general interests of 
Boston, that it may well be considered, as it were, the heart of the city. The 
new improvements have been planned, and are executing on a scale, calculated 
to connect the northern and southern sections with this great centre by a noble 
avenue, and to bring into a sphere of profitable use, lands or fliats hitherto com- 
paratively of little use or value. It must be apparent to every one who considers 
the subject, that, if the present opportunity be sufiered to pass unimproved, that 
it will for that vicinity 5e lost forever. After the final location of the southern 
block of stores now about to be sold, all hope of a more extensive and accommo- 
dating plan must be abandoned. Posterity cannot without great sacrifices, if at 
all, effect an arrangement of streets and spaces for the business of the city, which 
now can be obtained with little sacrifice ; and in fact with none, when compared 
with the greatness of the increased improvements and resulting advantages. 

With these general views, the Chairman, by direction of the Committee, 
opened a negotiation with the different proprietors of the land and stores in the 
vicinity of Butler's Row, and Bray's Wharf and dock. It is very apparent, that 
this negotiation must be carried on under many disadvantages, not only on 
account of the number of proprietors, whose good-will was to be conciliated, but 
also from the high price at which the city sales in that \'icinityhad countenanced 
those proprietors in claiming for their lands. A conditional arrangement has, 
however, at length been made with all the proprietors, whose lands are necessary 
to be included in this plan, dependent on the will of the Faneuil Hall Market 
Conmilttee. They are, therefore, now enabled to state with precision the parti- 
cular plan which they deem it most for the interest of the city to adopt, consider- 
ing all the relations of the property in that vicinity, and also to state the extreme 
possible cost and pecuniary results of that plan, should it be deemed advisable 
to adopt it.l 

Upoii the whole, the interest of the city is, in my opinion, so great, so obvious, 
and so certain, that I deem it my duty earnestly to reco mm end it to the City 
Council. 

The result of this Improvement, when carried into effect, according to all the 
greatness and utility which the relations of the property in that vicinity permits, 

1 As the plan here detailed was adopted and carried into effect by the City 
Council, and its advantages are at this day (1851) understood and acknow- 
ledged, the statements here made relative to the cost and anticipated result are 
omitted. 



APPENDIX. 415 

cannot fail to reflect great honor on the citizens of this metropolis, not only 
with foreigners, but with our posterity, inasmuch as it will evidence the exist- 
ence of a spii-it in the citizens of the present tune, capable of devising and 
willing to meet the expenditures necessary to effect improvements on a scale 
calculated not merely to provide for the exigencies of a passing day, but to 
extend to all future generations of the inhal^itants of this city by present wise 
prospective arrangements, the blessings of that exceeding gi'eat prosperity, 
which Providence in its bounty permits us to enjoy. 



(I. Page 137.) 

PROCEEDIXGS ON LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF FANEUIL HALL MARKET. 

On Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of April, 1825, the Corner Stone of the 
New Faneuil Hall Market was laid by the Mayor of the city, in the presence 
of the members of the City Council, the Superintendent and workmen of the 
building, and a large nmnber of citizens. The City Government assembled iu 
Faneuil Hall at eleven o'clock, and moved to the site of the new edifice, in 
the following order, preceded and flanked by peace ofiicers : — 

The Mayor. 

The City Marshal, bearing the chest containing the deposits. 

The other Members of the Builtling Committee. 

Aldermen. 

Members of the Common Council. 

Clerks of the two Boards. 

Principal Architect, &c. 

The Corner Stone, (a large block of Chelmsford granite,) was suspended by 
a pulley over the foundation stone, in a cavity of which a leaden box, or chest, 
was deposited, and which contained, — 

1. A colored Map of the City, recently executed. 

2. Plan of the Lands, Stores, Dock, &c., on which the new Improvement is 
located, as they existed before the Improvement was contemplated. The sites 
of the New Market, Streets, Ranges of Stores, &c., being designated by dotted 
hues. 

3. A Book, containing the Charter of the City, with the Amendments there- 
to ; the Constitutions of the United States and of Massachusetts ; and sundry 
Laws, passed in relation to the City. 

4. Copies of the Rules and Regulations of the City CouncU, with a list of the 
Officers of the City, and the Wards, for 1824 -'25. 



416 APPENDIX. 

5. Twenty-two Newspapers published during tlie preceding week, including 
all the weekly, semi-weekly, and daily papers, the Price Current, and Masonic 
Magazine. 

G. Eight numbers of Bowen's " History of Boston," in course of publication, 
containing a number of views of edifices, &c. in the city. 

7. A case, containing the following Coins, &c. : — An Eagle, Half Eagle, and 
Quarter Eagle, of gold ; a Dollar, Half Dollar, Quarter DoUar, Dime, and Half 
Dime, of silver ; and a Cent and Half Cent of the most recent coinage of the 
United States; a Silver (Pine-Tree) Shilling, of Massachusetts, coined in 1G52, 
presented by Nathaniel G. Snelling, Esq. ; and a Cent and Half Cent of the 
coinage of IMassachusetts, of 1787. The latter presented by Mr. Jeremiah 
Kehler. Together with the following Old Continental Bills (of paper money) 
issued during the Revolution, to wit, — One of Eight Dollars, issued in 1776, 
and one of Forty Dollars, issued in 1779, presented by Mr. John Fuller; one 
of Four Dollars, and two of Six Dollars, (one guaranteed by Rhode Island,) 
presented by Isaac Winslow, Esq.; one of Two Dollars, issued in 1776 ; one of 
Five, one of Twenty, and one of Thirty Dollars, issued in 1778 ; one of Five 
Dollars, (guaranteed by New Hampshire,) and one New Hampshire Colony Bill, 
for Ten Pounds, issued in 1775, presented by Ebenezer Farley, Esq. ; and a 
Rhode Island New Emission Bill, issued in 1780, for Three Dollars, presented 
by Stephen Codman, Esq. 

It has been a subject of regret,^ that the emblems, mottoes, and devices of the 
old continental paper money, have not, in our recollection, been permanently 
recorded. We i-emember to have read a glowing description of them given 
by a celebrated Whig Peer of England, in the British Parliament, during the 
Revolution, in answer to a remark of a Ministerialist, that the Americans were 
destitute of sound learning and science ; and which was adduced by him in proof 
of the existence in America of classical learning, taste, and genius, not excelled 
by any thing of tlie Idnd of which the literati of England could boast. He then 
attributed the mottoes and designs to Franklin, Adams, Rittenhouse, 
Livingston, and others, which, he said, bore equal evidence of scholarship and 
patriotism. The bills were extremely well engraved, and printed by Hall and 
Sellers, the then Baskervilles and Didots of America. Every denomina- 
tion of bills bore distinct devices, Avith significant and appropriate Latin mottoes. 
We shall only notice those on the denominations deposited. 

The Two Dollar Bills bore the emblem of a hand making a circle with com- 
passes. Motto, Trihulatio Ditat. Translation, "Trouble enriches," or, "The 
sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be."- — Rom. viii. 18. 

The device of the Three Dollar Bills was " an eagle pouncing on a crane, 
whose beak annoyed tlie eagle's throat." Motto, Exitus in dubio est. Transla- 
tion, " The issue is doubtful," or, " The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to 
the strong." — Eccl. ix. 1 1 . 

On the Five Dollar Bills was a hand grasping at a thorn-bush. Motto, Sustine 
vel abstine. Translation, " Hold fast or touch not," or, " Be not overcome of evil, 
but overcome evil with good." — Rom. xii. 21. 

The Six Dollar Bills represented a beaver felling a tree. Motto, Perxeverando. 
Translation, " By perseverance we prosper," or, " Let us run with patience the 
race set before us." — Ileb. xii. 1. Another emission bore an anchor. Motto, 

1 The whole of this note is taken from the Columbian Centinel of the thirtieth 
of A])ril, 1.S25, edited by Benjamin Russell, an active and efficient member of 
the Faneuil Hall Couunittee. 



APPENDIX. 417 

In te Domine speramus. Translation, " In God have I put my trust." — 
Psalmlxvi.il. 

The Eight Dollar Bills bore the L'ish harp. Motto, Majora Minoribus conso- 
nant. Translation, " United we stand," or, " Let there be no thvisions among 
you ; but be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
ment." — 1 Cor. i. 10. 

The Tliirty Dollar Bills bore a wreath on an altar. Motto, Si rede fades. 
Translation, '' If you do right you will succeed," or, '• Do that which Is good, and 
thou shalt have praise of the same." — Ileb. xiii. 3. 

8. A Plate of silver, weighing fifteen ounces, eleven inches by seven, with 
the following 

INSCRIPTION. 
Faneuil Hall IMakket, 

Established by the City of Boston. This Stone was laid April 27, Anno Do- 
mini MDCCCXXV., in the forty-ninth year of American Independence, and 
in the third of the Incorporation of the city. 

Josiah Quincy, Mayor. 
Aldermen. — Daniel Baxter, George Odiorne, David "W. Child, Joseph 
Hawley Dorr, Asher Benjamin, Enoch Patterson, Caleb Eddy, Stephen Hooper. 

MEMBERS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL. 

Francis J. Oliver, President. 
Ward Ko. 1. — William Barre, John EUiot, Michael Tombs, Joseph "WTieel- 
er. — 2. AVilliam Little, Jr., Thaddeus Page, Oliver Reed, Joseph Stone. — 
3. Jolm R. Adan, John D. Dyer, Edward Page, WilUam Sprague. — 4. Joseph 
Coolidge, Jeremiah Fitch, Robert G. Shaw, William R. P. Washburn. — 5. Eli- 
phalet P. Hartshorn, Ellas Haskell, George W. Otis, Winslow Wright. — 
G. Joseph S. Hastings, Joel Prouty, Thomas Wiley, Wilham Wright. — 7. Charles 
P. Curtis, Wilham Goddard, Elijah Morse, Isaac Parker. — 8. John Ballard, 
Jonathan Davis, John C. Gray, Hawkes Lincoln. — 9. Benjamin Russell, Eli- 
phalet Williams, Samuel K. Williams, Benjamin Wilhs. — 10. Francis J. Oliver, 
James Savage, Phineas Upham, Thomas B. Wales. — 11. Samuel Frothingham, 
Giles Lodge, Charles Sprague, Josiah Stedman. — 12. Charles Bemis, Samuel 
Bradlee, Francis Jackson, Isaac Thom. 

BUILDING COMMITTEE. 

Josiah Quincy, Chairman. 

David W. Child, Asher Benjamin, Enoch Patterson, Francis J. Oliver, Ben- 
jamin Russell, Charles P. Curtis, Thaddeus Page, Ehphalet Williams, Joseph 
Coolidge, William Wright. 

Alexander Parris, Principal Architect. 

John Quincy Adams, President of the United States. 

Marcus Morton, Lieutenant-Governor, and Conunander-In-Chief of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Memoranda. — The population of the City, estunated at fifty thousand. That 
of the United States, eleven millions. ,. 

[Engraved by Ilazcn Morse.^ 



418 APPENDIX. 

The Stone liaving been placed in its proper position and cemented, the Mayor 
announced that the Corner Stone was now erected of an edifice, which would 
be a proud memorial of the jjublic spirit and unanimity of the City Council, and 
of the liberality of their fellow-citizens ; an edifice which, he anticipated, would 
be an ornament to the city, a convenience for its inhabitants, a blessing to the 
poor, an accommodation to the rich, and an object of pleasure to the whole 
conununity. Thi-ee cheers followed the annunciation, and the ceremony. closed. 

The execution of the Inscription on the Plate deposited has been admired by 
all who have viewed it, as an excellent sample of the progress made in the 
graphic art, and the ornamental and scrip chirography of the day. 



(K. Page 145.) 

STATEMEXTS RELATIVE TO THE IRRESPOXSIBILITY CLAIMED BY THE OVER- 
SEERS OF THE POOR FOR PUBLIC MOXEYS. 

The Report here referred to, embodied all the facts relative to the irrespon- 
sibility of the Board of Overseers of the Poor for the great sums they annually 
receive from the City Treasury, and also for the great amount of eleemosynary 
funds in their hands. It was signed by every member of the Committee, (see 
p. 144,) men most faithful to the interests of the city, and solicitous to promote 
those of the poor. It was accepted unanimously by both branches of the City 
Council, and its recommendations were, in a general meeting of more than euiht 
hundred inhabitants, rejected by a majority of only thirty-one ; a result showing, 
that the views presented in that report were approved by nearly half of those 
present, and those among the most intelligent, and possessing as great a stake as 
any in the city. 

After the result of the struggle made In 1824 to effect a change in this claim 
of the Overseers for irresponsibility, a perfect sQence was maintained on the 
nature and consequences of these pretensions, until March, 1837, when Samuel 
A. Eliot, Mayor of the city, in a communication to the City Council relative to 
the eleemosynary fund, " exclusively under the control of the Overseers of the 
Poor," and the expenditures, concerning which they disavowed all accountability, 
took occasion to make the following remarks : — 

" Whetlier this is a state of things which should exist, or whether it would be 
better that all the modes of charity should be under one general supervision, and 
under the usual responsibility to the City Council, is for the Council and the 
citizens to determine. I cannot perceive, that any advantage, arising from the 
present system, is a counterbalance to the evil which ensues from the complica- 
tion of the business in so many hands, the danger of collision between independ- 
ent boards, and the tendency natural to all irresponsible bodies, to conceal their 
transactions. Publicity is generally and jusdy regarded as the best security 
against abuse, and the convenience of having a system of charity adopted by the 
city, and pursued under the direction of one board, is too manifest to rerjuire 
urging. In what manner this can be effected, I must leave to the deliberations 
of the City Council, with the conviction, that their proceedings will be marked 
by regard to the pubhc good, and a just deference to enlightened public 
opinion." 



APPENDIX. 419 

NotAvitlistancIing the directness and wisdom of these suggestions, no attempt 
was theia made, or has been subsequently, to effect a change in a state of things 
so undeniably incorrect in point of principle, and so untpiestionably liable to 
secret abuse. A board of twelve men, chosen not by the citizens at large, but 
individually, in wards, continue to be peniiitted to expend from twentij-cUjIit to 
iJiirti/ thousand dollars annually of money received out of the City Treasury, and 
to manage a capital of upwards of one hundred thousand dollars of eleemosynary 
funds, distributing its incomes at their discretion, without accountability to any 
one, except to one another, which, in effect, is no accountability at all. 

The cause of this apparent apathy is obvious. There is no body now existing 
in the city, authorized to call the Overseers of the Poor to account for their 
expenditures ; and, should the City Council make any movement to exercise or 
obtain that power, a clamor would be raised, as it was in 1824, in the different 
wards, by those interested in maintaining the present system, and they would be 
denounced as attempting to interfere with an independent board, and with a 
desire to get under their control funds placed in other hands by the donors them- 
selves, — a reproach and odium Avhich few administrations are willing to meet, 
and perhaps fewer would be able to sustain. In the mean time, by the increase 
of our population and the infusion of foreigners, the necessity of public ex2:)end- 
itures for the poor continually augments, and with it, unavoidably, the temptation 
and danger of secret abuse of great funds, when intrusted to irresponsible agents. 
It seems important, therefore, that some historical facts should be stated and 
preserved, especially such as relate to the eleemosynary funds, now holden and 
disti-Ibuted by the present Board of Overseers, claiming to be successors of the 
former Board of Overseers, which existed under the town. 

First, then, the Board of Overseers of the Poor of the town of Boston were 
very differently constituted than are the Board of Overseers of the Poor of the 
city of Boston, and consequently possessed far more elements of general con- 
fidence. Had the Board of Overseers of the Poor been then constituted as 
it is now, it would never have been selected as the trustees of those eleemosy- 
nary funds. 

Under the town government the members of the Board of Overseers of the 
Poor were elected by the votes of the whole body of the inhabitants. They 
were consequently always men of a high general character, known to a majority 
of the inhabitants, and chosen by them for their integrity, capacity, and adapt- 
ation to the service. Among them were always men distinguished for their 
wealth, their business talents, and charities. The uniformity of this result for 
many vears, created that general confidence, which caused them to be chosen as 
trustees of these eleemosynary funds. Now the Board of Overseers of the Poor, 
under the city government, are chosen In wards, and consequently are seldom 
known to the inhabitants generally, and are also often not selected for any 
special qualification for this great trust, but because they are popular and avail- 
able candidates, or wilUng to accept an office which is deemed irksome, and to 
which no emolument is thought to be attached. A board thus constituted could 
never have acquired that general confidence, which the donations of those elee- 
mosynary funds indicate. Wliat capitahst, at this day, would select that board as 
trustees of such donations ? 

There was another element of confidence in the Board of Overseers, under 



420 APPENDIX. 

the town, which is wholly wanting in tliat board under the city, — every vacancy 
in the hoard was always in fact filled by the nomination of the members of the 
hoard themselves. Hence, the ncAv members were always well qualified for the 
office, and acceptable to the old members remaining as associates. When a 
vacancy was about to occur, it was the practice of the board to consult together, 
and to select the individual whose name was to be inserted in the general ticket 
with those of the members of the board about to remain. This course was 
known, and acceptable to the inhabitants. The individual thus selected, being 
always one whose quafities and adaptation were by them well known and 
approved, he was accordingly uniformly chosen, it is believed, without olyection 
or opposition, during the whole period of the town government. This course of 
proceeding gave that board, under the town, a fi^xed and staid character, mviting 
confidence and sustaining it. 

Concerning these eleemosynary funds, the Board of Overseers wrap them- 
selves up in the dignity of irresponsible trustees, and deny to every one, even to 
the Mayor of the city, the right of raising any question concerning the manage- 
ment and distribution of them. Yet, they have no other ground of claim to the 
control of those funds than a general declaration in the city charter, that they 
shall have " all the powers and be subject to all the duties which appertain to 
the Board of Overseers of the Poor of the town of Boston." AVhether such 
general expressions as these, which contain no words purporting a ti-ansfer of 
property, or unplying a grant of any succession to trusts, are suflicient in law to 
pass funds of a great amount previously vested in a corporation " by the name 
of the Overseers of the Poor of the town of Boston, and their successors," is a 
question of law, which, if the heirs or representatives of the original donors of 
those funds should seriously raise in a court of justice, the result, perhaps, might 
be dubious. Fortunately, however, the Legislature has reserved to itself, in the 
very charter of the city, the right " to alter and qualify " the powers of that 
board. And it is believed, that the time cannot be far distant, when the Legis- 
lature, either self-moved, or on the application either of individual citizens or 
of the City Council, will recognize it as their duty to do justice to the charitable 
donors of those eleemosynary funds, and bring the Board of Overseers of the 
Poor under the city to as near an approximation to the character of that under 
the town as is now possible, by enacting a law, by which the members of that 
board shall be chosen by that body, which now in every thing else acts for the 
whole body of the citizens, that is, by the City Council ; and thereby restore 
that board more nearly to the same elements of general confidence it possessed 
under the town. 

An act of this kind would also relieve the city of Boston fi-om the cflect of that 
monstrous financial anomaly, whereby twelve men, chosen individually in wards, 
with little consideration by the voters of the great amounts of money placed at 
their disposal, and of their adaptation to distribute it, are invested annually 
with power to expend from twenty-eight to thirty thousand dollars out of the 
public treasury, at their discretion, with no other accountability than to one 
another. The annual publication of their receipts and expenditures, which they 
call accounting to their fellow-citizens, has, in fact, no one element of effective 
accountability. 

Under the town government, it was otherwise. There every inhabitant had 



APPENDIX. 421 

tlie riglit and tlie power, in public town-meeting, to demand explanations and 
specifications, concerning the modes and principles of expenditure. Under the 
city, no human being has such right or power, it being denied even to the City 
Council ; and, although it naturally belongs to them, they have hitherto been 
deterred from attempting to obtain it, from causes well known and already 
intimated. . 



(L. Page 20G.) 

AX ADDRESS 1 DELIVERED AT THE UNAXIMOUS REQUEST OF BOTH BRANCHES 
OF THE CITY COUNCIL ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 182G, IT BEING THE 
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, BY JOSIAH QUINCY, 
MAYOR OP THE CITY. 

On the fiftieth annivei'sary of the independence of our country, — on the 
gi-eat day of our fathers' glory, — r we assemble to speak concerning their virtues, 
and to tell of labors and sacrifices by which they gave existence to our nation. 

More than half the term allotted in the ordinaiy course of Providence to the 
longest human life has elapsed since that event. Those whose age or experience 
guide the afiairs of the present time were then children or youths ; witnesses, 
without being {)artakers of that struggle. How natural and suitable is it, on such 
an anniversary, for the fathers of the present day to speak concerning the fathers 
of former days to one another and to their children, who are destined to be the 
lathers of the age which is to come ! 

We are, then, fellow-citizens, assembled, not to take part in a liglit and vain 
show, but to perform a solemn and somewhat a religious duty. Parents and 
children, we have come to the altar of our common faith, not like the Carthagi- 
nian, to swear enmity to another nation, but, in the spirit of obedience and under 
a sense of moral and religious obligation, to inquire what it is to fulfil well our 
duty to ourselves and our posterity. And while we pass before our eyes in long 
array the outspread images of our fathers' virtues, let us strive to excite in our 
own bosoms and enkindle in each other's that intense and sacred zeal by which 
their patriotism was animated and refined. Fifty years after the occurrence of 
the greatest of our national events, we gather with our children around the 
tombs 'of our fathers, as we trust, — and may Heaven so grant! — fifty years 
hence, those children will gather around ours, in the spirit of gratitude and- 
honor, to contemplate their glory ; to seek the lessons suggested by their exam- . 
pie ; and to examine the principles on which they laid the foundations of their 
country's prosperity and greatness. 

1 This work having been substituted, under circumstances the text explains, 
for one of the orations annually delivered by the appointment of the Mayor and 
Aldermen on the fourth of July, has been naturally pubHshed with that name, 
and usually regarded in that light. 

It was, however, solicited as an adrlress to the City Council and inhabitants 
of the city, acce])ted as an official duty, and executed in a style adapted to 
the relation in which the writer stood, and in conformity with the vote of the 
City Council. 

36 



422 APPENDIX. 

But If, as Americans, it be natural and suitable to consecrate this clay In our 
airections, how much more as citizens of Boston, — inhabitants of tliat city 
known through the world as the cradle of" American liberty, — standing as we 
do under the canopy of that sacred temple,i which was honored, in the most try- 
ing times of our Revolution, by the boldest breathings of our chiefest jjatrlots ; 
■which was polluted in the most disastrous times by the war horse, which neighed 
and stabled in this sanctuary ; surrounded as we are by the direct descendants 
of those who were first and most fearless in the day of severest trial ! 

Where shall the memory of the great men of our Revolution be honored, if It 
be not in this city, in this temjile, and in tliis assembly ? 

AVhat future age, what distant region, lu'aiung of the American Revolution, 
shall not also hear of " Faneuil Hall " and of the " Old South," where the early 
spirit of American liberty stood in dignit}', fidelity, and fearlessness, while sen- 
tries, with fixed bayonets, were at our State House doors ; while Boston was but 
a garrison — its islands and harbors possessed by a vindictive and indignant foe ; 
its trade suspended by British cruisers ; famine threatened by British edicts ; 
and the blood of its slaughtered citizens flowed In Its streets ! 

In what land, where the American name Is known, are not, and shall not for- 
ever be, known, the names of those citizens of Boston, who were the strength 
and lights of their own time, and the eternal glory of their country, — Adams 
and Hancock, and Otis, and Warren, and others of scarcely less celebrity ? 

Especially shall he not be forgotten, now or ever, that ancient citizen of Bos- 
ton, that j^atrlarch of American independence, of all New England's worthies, 
on tills great day the sole survlvor.2 He, indeed, oppressed by years, sinking 
under the burdens of decaying nature, hears not our public song or voice of 
praise or ascending prayer. But the sounds of a nation's joy, rushing fi-om our 
cities, ringing from our valleys, echoing from our hills, shall break the silence of 
his aged ear ; the rising blessings of grateful millions shall visit, with a glad light, 
his fading vision, and flush the last shades of his evening sky with the reflected 
splendors of his meridian brightness. 

How peculiarly and imperiously incumbent, then, is It on us on this day. In 
this place and In tills assembly, to speak together concerning the glory of our 
ancestors ; to analyze that glory ; and to inquire what It is to deserve, and what 
it Is to disgrace those ancestors ! 

When we speak of the glory of our fathers, we mean not that vulgar renown 
to be attained by physical strength, nor yet that higher fame to be acquired by 
Intellectual power. Both often exist without lofty thought or pure intent or 

1 The Old South Church. 

2 John Adams, the patriot here alluded to, expired at about five o'clock 
on this day ; and Thomas Jefferson, another patriot of the same period, also 
expired at about one o'clock on the same afternoon. 

Thus two of the most distinguished statesmen of the United States, l)oth mom- 
bei-s of the Committee of Congress who drafted the Declaration of American 
Iudei)endence, and who both signed that instrument ; both of whom had been 
for many years Ministers of the United States at several European courts; both 
of whom had held successively tlie offices of Vice-President and President of 
the United States, finished their mortal career on the fourth of July, 1826; It 
being the fiftieth anniversary of that most glorious and hapjiy event for them- 
selves and their countr}-, — the Declaration of American Independence. 



APPENDIX. 423 

generous puiijose. The glory which we celebrate was strictly of a moral and 
religious character, — righteous as to its ends, just as to its means. The Ameri- 
can i-evolution had its origin, neither in ambition, nor avarice, nor envy, nor in 
any gross passion ; but in the nature and relation of things, and in the thence 
resulting necessity of separation from the parent State. Its progress was limited 
by that necessity. During the struggle, our fathers tUsplajx-d great strength and 
great moderation of purpose. In dillicult times they conducted with wisdom. 
In doubtful times, with firmness. In perilous, with courage. Under oppressive 
trials, erect. Amidst great temptations, unseduced. In the dark hour of dan- 
ger, fearless. In the bright hour of prosperity, faithful. It was not the instant 
feeling and pressure of the arm of despotism that roused them to resist, but the 
principle on which that arm was extended. They could have paid the stamp-tax 
and the tea-tax, and the other impositions of the British government, had they 
been increased a thousand-fold. But pa}Tiient acknowledged the right; and 
they spurned the consequences of that acknowledgment. In spite of those acts 
tliey could have lived and happily, and bought and sold, and got gain, and been 
at ease. But they would have held those blessings on the tenure of dependence 
on a foreign and distant power, at the mercy of a king or his minions, or of coun- 
cils in which they had no voice, and where their interests could not be repre- 
sented, and were little Ukely to be heard. They saw that their prosperity in 
such case would be precarious ; their possessions uncertain ; their ease inglorious. 
But above all they realized that those bui'dens, though light to them, would, to 
the coming age, — to us, their posterity, — be heavy, and, probably, insupport- 
able. Reasoning on the inevitable increase of interested imposition upon those 
who are without power and have none to help, they foresaw that, sooner or 
later, desperate struggles must come. They preferred to meet the trial in their 
own times, and to make the sacrifices in their own persons. They were willing 
themselves to endure the toil and to incur the hazard, that we and our descend- 
ants, — their posterity, — might reap the harvest, and enjoy the increase. 

Generous men ! exalted patriots ! immortal statesmen ! For this deep, moral, 
and social afi'ection, for this elevated self-devotion, this noble purpose, this bold 
daring, the multiplying myriads of your posterity, as they thicken along the 
Atlantic coast, from the St. Croix to the Mssissippi, as they spread backwards 
to the lakes, and from the lakes to the mountains, and from the mountains to the 
western waters, shall, on this day, annually, in all future tune, as we at this hour, 
come up to the temple of the INIost High, with song and anthem and thanksgiv- 
ing and choral symphony and hallelujah, to repeat your names, to look stead- 
fasdy on the brightness of your glory ; to trace its spreading rays to the points 
from which the)' emanate ; and to seek, in your character and conduct, a prac- 
tical illustration of public duty, in every occurring, social exigence. 

In the rapid view I am compelled to take of the genius and character of our 
revolution, I shall chiefly fix my eye on this State, town, and vicinity. Let other 
States and cities celebrate mth due honors the great men whose lights cluster in 
their peculiar sky. IVLissachusetts has a constellation of her own, exceeded by 
none in brightness, yielding to none in power, surpassed by none in influence, 
during the first stages of the Revolutionary struggle. In this State and in tliis 
metropolis were exhibited, among the earliest, those generous virtues and that 
noble darlnsf which electrified the Continent. 



424 APPENDIX. 

If it be asked in what the peculiar gloiy of our fathers in that day consisted, 
this is my answer. It consisted in perfeetly-perfornaed duty, according to the 
measure of that perfection wliich is attributable to things human. Now, real 
glory, when strictly analyzed and rc<luced to its constituent princijjle, with all its 
tinsel and dross separated, will be found to consist, and to consist only in truth. 
The glory of contemplation is truth to nature. The glory of action is truth to 
the relations in which man is placed, — perfect fulfilment of all the obligations 
which result from the condition of things allotted to him by Providence. 

In this point of view, the glory of our fathers at the revolution may be stated 
in detail to consist in being true to their ancestors, true to themselves, true to 
their posterity, and, above all, in being true to virtue and liberty. 

Our fathers, at the Revolution, were true to their ancestors ; maintaining their 
principles, obeying their 2:)recepts, copying their example. ■ 

The Revolution of 1776 is called, and justly, a mighty struggle for independ- 
ence. But it was neither greater, bolder, nor more arduous, than the emigra- 
tion of the first settlers to New England ; nor was there incurred in it more 
hazard, nor displayed in any of its events, a more determined spirit of independ- 
ence, than were incurred and disj^layed by the immediate descendants of those 
settlers, — the direct progenitoi's of the authors of our revolution. 

Time would fail me, were I to attempt to maintain this position by historical 
references. One or two striking evidences of fact and opinion must suffice. 

The emigration itself of our ancestors was, in truth, only a mighty struggle for 
independence. According to the genius of the age, and the particular bias of 
our ancestors' minds, their motive took the aspect of a strong desire for a higher 
religious freedom and a purer form of religious worship. It is impossible, how- 
ever, not to perceive that even this desire was only a mode, under Avhich existed 
an intense and all-absorbing spirit of civil freedom. In the nature of things, it 
could not jiossibly have been otherwise. They fled from the persecutions of the 
British hierarchy. Now the strength of the hierarchy was in the nerve of the 
secular arm. It was that odious centaur, not fabulous, church and state, which 
drove them for refuge into the Avilderness. This monster, with a political head 
and an ecclesiastical body, they hated and feared ; i-epresenting their emigration 
and sufferings under the familiar type of the woman of the Apocalypse, who fled 
" into the wilderness, to a place prepared of God, from the face of the beast." 

We are apt to view our ancestors of the first and second generations in the 
light of enthusiasts. Now, if bj' this term is meant, according to its usual import, 
" men, who through a vain confidence in heaven, neglect the use of human 
means," there never existed a class of men less entitled to that appellation than 
our fathers. Of all men, they were the most practical. Their whole history, the 
colleges, schools, churches, all the institutions they founded, constitute one 
imbroken series of examples of the wise and happy use of human means. As to 
their opinions, take, instead of a multitude which might be adduced, a single 
example. In that famous work entitled " Faithful Advice to the Churches of 
New England," sent out into the world under the auspices of our fathers, having 
the signatures of both the ]\Iathers, Davenport, Cohnan, and others, there is the 
following remarkable vindication of the use of human learning in religion, urged 
with their characteristic acuteness. 

" No man ever decried learning without being an enemy to religion, whether 



% 



APPENDIX. 425 

he knew It or no. Wlien our Lord chose fishermen to be ministers, he Tvould 
not send them forth until they had been several years under his tuition ; (a bet 
ter than the best in any college under heaven) and then, also, he miraculously 
furnished them with more learning than any of us, by seven years hard study, 
can attain unto." 

It would be easy also to adduce abundant evidence of the free opinions enter- 
tained by the first settlers, relative to the right of resistance to kings and to per- 
sonal and colonial freedom, by quotations from approved authors of that period. 
A single extract from the writings of Nathaniel Ward, the first clergyman of the 
town of Ipswich, in this vicinity, will sufficiently manifest the temper and spirit 
of our ancestors in that age on those points. This writer was so highly esteemed 
by our ancestors, that he was employed in 1639 by the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts to draft that code, consisting of one hundred laws, called " the body of 
liberties " of the Colony. In an eccenti-ic, but highly popular work in that day, 
pubhshed by him in 1647, entitled "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam in Ame- 
rica," the contest, then carrying on between the King and Parliament, Is repre- 
sented under the similitude of a controversy between royal prerogative (majestas 
Imperii) and popular liberty (salus popull) and Is thus stated In the quaint lan- 
guage of that day : — 

AVe hear that Majestas Imjyerii hath challenged Salus Popull Into the field ; 
the one fighting for prerogatives, the other defending liberties. If Salus Populi 
beo'an, surely It was not that Salus Populi I left in England. That Salus Populi 
was as mannerly a Salus Populi as need be. If I be not much deceived, that 
Salus Populi suffered Its nose to be held to the grindstone till it was ground to 
the gristle ; and yet grew never the sharper, for aught I could chscern. I think 
that since the world began. It was never storied that Salus Popull began with 
Majestas Imperii, unless Majestas Imperil first unharbored It and hunted It to a 
stand, and then It must turn head and live, or turn tail and die. Common- 
wealths cost as much In the making as crowns ; and If they be well made, would 
yet outsel an Ul-fashioned crbwn In any market overt, If they be well-vouched. 

" But preces and lachrymm are the people's weapons ; so are swords and pis- 
tols, when God and Parliament bid them arm. Prayers and tears are good 
weapons for them that have nothing but knees and eyes ; but most men have 
teeth and nails. If subjects must fight for their kings against other kingdoms 
when their kings will, I know no reason but they may fight against their kings 
for their own kingdoms when Parliament say they may and must. But Parlia- 
ment must not say they must imtll God says they may." 

The bold spirit of liberty which characterized the first settlers of New Eng- 
land cannot be too highly appreciated by their posterity. Neither are their 
wisdom and pmdence In maintaining their liberties, less subjects of admiration 
and applause. What state paper exists more solemn or comprehensive than that 
memorable order, by which the General Cotii-t of ^Massachusetts, In 1660, caused 
a conunittee to be raised to consider the consequences to their liberties to be 
anticipated from the restoration of Charles 11. ? 

" Forasmuch as the present condition of our affairs, in matters of the highest 

concernment, calls for diligent and speedy use of the best means, seriously to 

discuss and rightly to understand our liberty and duty ; thereby to beget unity 

among ourselves In the due observance of obedience to the authority of England 

36* 



426 APPENDIX. 

and our own just privileges, for the effecting whereof It is ordered that Simon 
Bradstrcet, &c. be a committee to consider and debate such matter or tiling of 
public concernment, touching our patent, laws, privileges, and duty to his 
Majesty, as they may judge expedient, that so (if the will of God be) we may 
speak and act the same thing, becoming prudent, honest, conscientious, and 
faithful men." 

Now what their notion of these "just privileges" was, may be gathered from 
" their refusing to make the oath of allegiance necessary ; " " refusing to cause 
proceecUngs at law to be In the name of the King." " ]\laintainlng that liberty 
of conscience justified their removal to this quarter of the world ; that with 
removal their subjection to England ceased ; and that the sovereignty of the 
soil was in them, because purchased by them of the native princes." l 

That these were doctrines holden and avowed by " persons of influence," 
among the early emigrants to New England we know from history. Their 
patent, or old charter itself, was in fact only an incorporation for trade, turned 
by the dexterity of the first settlers into a civil sovereignty. And the real cause 
of their extreme attachment to it was, that, under color of that Instrument, they 
chose their own rulers and judges, made laws, and in efiect were an independ- 
ent state. 

How this theory of the ancient leaders of IMassachusetts was seconded by the 
spirit of the people, will be apparent from a single transaction of a somewhat 
later period. During the reign of Iving James II., our fathers had been insulted 
by the dissolution of their charter, and oppressed by the proceedings of the 
King's Commlssionei^s. The leaders of the Colony were indignant. The people 
were stung to madness. 

On the eighteenth of April, 1689, — the eighteenth and nineteenth of April 
are red-letter days In the calendar of American liberty, — on the eighteenth of 
April, 1689, say our historians, there came up from North Boston, — that noi-th- 
ern hive has been famous In all times for a hardy, industrious, and intrepid race 
of men, — : there came up from North Boston a multitude of men and boys run- 
ning. The drums beat. The people ran to their arms. They rushed to Fort 
Hill, where Avas then a formidable fortification, " standing so thick that one gun 
from the fort would have killed a hundred of them; but God prevented! "2 
They scaled the sconce, and, seizing the lower battery, they turned the guns 
" on the red coats in the fort," who surrendering at discretion, they took the 
King's Council prisoners, and put the King's Governor under guard ; they sent 
the captain of the lung's frigate to jail ; and turned the batteries on the King's 
frigate herself; and the country people coming in, the elders and fathers took 
possession of the King's government ; and thus was effected a glorious revolution 
here in IMassachusetts thirty days before It was known that King AVilllam of 
glorious memory had just effected a similar glorious revolution on the other side 
of the Atlantic. 

It Is very obvious that the fate of New England was suspended on the fate of 
the Prince of Orange. Had he failed, our ancestors of that day would have had 
to expiate the guilt of treason in exile, or confiscation, or on the scaffold. How 

1 Hutchinson's 7//.s/. of Mass. vol. i. ch. 2. 
~ Hutchinson's ITi&l. v. I. ch. 3. 



APPENDIX. 427 

truly then may it be said that tlie spirit of our ancestors of tbe first age was emu- 
lated by the immediate authors of our independence, and that these descendants 
were true to the example and glory of their predecessors ! 

If we descend from the era of the English Revolution to the middle of the last 
century, we find the same daring spirit of liberty promulgated, not by irresponsi- 
ble scribblers, in anonymous pamphlets, but by the highest colonial lawyers on 
the floor of state, and by the most learned colonial clergy from their pulpits. 
Take, for example, an extract from a sermon, entitled " A Discourse concerning 
Unlimited Submission to the Higher Poicers, tvith some Reflections on the Resist- 
ance to King Charles I., and on the Anniversary of his Death, in tvJiich the Myste- 
rious Doctrine of that Prince's Saintshijy and Martyrdom is unriddled. Preached 
by Jonathan ]\iayhew, Pastor of the West Church in Boston. Among other 
doctrines, not less bold and decisive, he lays down the following : ^- 

" A people really oppressed to a great degree by their sovereign, cannot well 
be insensible when they are so oppressed. And such a people, if I may allude 
to an ancient fable, have, like the Hesperian fruit, a dragon for their protector 
and guardian. Nor would they have any reason to mourn, if some Hercules 
should appear to despatch him. For a nation thus abused, to arise unanimously 
and to resist their prince, even to the dethroning him, is not criminal ; but a rea- 
sonable way of vindicating their liberties and just rights." 

Now it must be remembered that this discourse was preached six-and-twenty 
years before the era of our Revolution, by the most learned and popular preacher 
of his day ; that it was pubUshed " at the request of his hearers ; " that the thing 
was not done in a corner, nor circulated in a whisper, but as the title-page has 
it, Anno, 1750. Boston: New England. "Printed and sold by D. Fowle, in 
Queen Street, and by D. Gookin, over against the Old South Meeting House." 

There is no need of further proof that the fathers of our Revolution were ti'ue 
to their ancestors, both distant and inuncdiate ; obeying their precepts, copying 
their examples, and acting up to their characters. 

It remains for us to observe, that the fathers of our Revohition were also true 
to themselves and true to posterity ; and in this, above all, that they were true 
to virtue and liberty. 

There were three great principles, which, in the opinion of our ancestors, in 
every age, constituted the essence of colonial liberty ; and with which, in their 
toinds, it was identified. 

1. That their rulers and judges should be chosen by, and responsible to them- 
selves. 

2. That the right of laying taxes on the inhabitants of the Colonies should 
belong exclusively to their own representatives. 

3. That their religious rights should depend wholly on their colonial laws and 
constitutions. 

The first of these principles was the object of the struggles of the first settlers 
of New England and their immediate descendants. They exercised this libei-ty 
between fifty and sixty years. They lost it by the dissolution of their old char- 
ter. That of William and Mary did not restore it. Among other obnoxious 
provisions in this last charter, the appointment of the Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, and Secretary, with a qualified, appellate, judicial jurisdiction, was 
reserved to the Crown. 



428 APPENDIX. 

The loss of tliis brancTi of liberty was submitted to with reluctance, and 
endured with great impatience. The deep yearning of our fatliers' hearts after 
their ancient liberty is to be seen in every subsequent page of their political his- 
tory, and was one of the active, though hidden causes of our Revolution. 

On the second great principle of colonial liberty, that taxation and represent- 
ation are inseparable, the American Revolution turned. 

Now, the just estimate made by our fathers of the importance of that princi- 
ple, — the self-devotion with winch they maintained it, the boldness with which 
they put in jeopardy life, liberty, property, reputation, whatever man holds dear 
in hope or in possession to vindicate it, — are the great central points from 
which radiates theii* glory at the Revolution. 

At a superficial view, we are inclined to wonder at the inflexible firmness of 
our fathers, in opposition to the stamp and tea taxes, and the other British impo- 
sitions at that period. The amount small ; comparatively little burdensome ; for 
the most part aifecting articles of luxury or of occasional use. We are tempted 
to exclaim, what grievous oppression in all this ? A single year of war would 
exceed in expense the loss in fifty years from such taxes. And when we look at 
the subject in point of principle, their condition would not have been a whit 
worse than immense classes of British subjects who pay taxes without having 
any voice in the choice of their rulers. Arguments and facts of this kind were 
urged on our fathers in every form of reason and eloquence ; enforced by 
appeals to their hopes from the smiles of royal favor ; by appeals to their fears 
from the terrors of royal power. But they stood as the mountain rock, which 
alike mocks the melting heat of the summer's sun, and the uprooting blasts of the 
winter's stonn. By such considerations, the flame of their enkindled zeal was 
neither quenched nor allayed. Their unyielding fixedness of principle in this 
respect does infinite credit to their sagacity and virtue. 

For when we consider more carefully this principle, so earnestly asserted by 
Great Britain, and so resolutely resisted by our fathers, we shall find that, to 
human view, it contained the whole hope of American independence for the 
then pi-esent and all future times. The possibility of American independence 
at any time depended upon the union of the Colonies in some common princij^Ie 
of ojjposition to the pretensions of Great Britain. Now, this right being con- 
ceded, it was scarce possible that any such common principle should exist ; much 
less become a bond of union among the Colonies. This right admitted, every 
thing else was but mode and measure, — an affair of discretion. ^^Tiat hope 
that they, who could not unite in resistance to the whole right, could be ever 
brought to combine in resistance to a particularly oppressive degree in the exer- 
cise of it ? Besides, how easy would it have been for Great Britain, by settling 
any obnoxious degree, in mode or measure, difl'erently in different colonies, to 
take from some all motive to cooperate in the resistance of others ! This princi- 
ple, therefore, being yielded, there was to human view no subsequent hope of 
independence for tlie Colonies. That principle was worthy, therefore, of all the 
imjjortance attached to it by our fathers ; worthy of all the sacrifices they made 
in its defence. Their foresight, their energy and inflexible spirit on this point, 
are among the brightest beams in tlie glory of tliat day. 

Of a similar type is the self-denial to which they submitted, and the hazards 
which they voluntarily incurred for the sake of that principle. By submission, 



APPENDIX. 429 

they would, In tlieir o^vii time, have enjoyed peace, secured plenty, attained 
extci-nal protection under the shield of Great Britain, and in the gradual 
advance of society, they had reason to expect to arrive, even in the colonial 
state, at a very elevated and enviable condition of prosperity. On the other 
hand, what were the hazards of resistance ? — The untried, and not to be esti- 
mated perils of civil war ; — "a people in the gristle, and not yet hardened into 
the bone of manhood," to rush on the thick bosses of the bi.ckler of the most 
powerful State In Europe, the one most capable of annoying them, — Mithout arms 
or resources, to enter the lists with the best appointed nation on the globe ; — desti- 
tute of a sloop of war, to wage hostilities with a country whose navies com- 
manded every sea and even their own harbors. In case of success, — the chance 
of anarchy and the unknown casualties attending a new organization of society'. 
In case of failure, — exile, confiscation, the scaffold, the fate of some ; to bear the 
opprobrious names of rebel and traitor, and to transmit them to a disgraced 
posterity, the fate of all. 

Wliat appeals to selfishness ! what to cupidity ! what to love of ease, to fear, 
and to pusillanimity ! But our fathers took counsel of a dilierent spirit, — of the 
pure ethereal spirit which glowed and l^urned In tlieir own bosoms. In spite of 
the greatness of the temjitatlon and the certainty of the hazard, they resisted ; 
and the front ranks of opposition were filled, not by a needy, promiscuous, 
unknown, and Irresponsible crowd, but by the heart and mind and strength 
of the Colony ; by the calm and calculating merchant ; by the cautious capl- 
tahst ; by the sedate and pious divine ; by the far-looking, deep-read lawyer ; 
by the laborious and intelUgent mechanic. We have no need to repeat names. 
The entire soul and sense and sinew of society were in action. 

The spirit of our Revolution is not to be sought in this or that individual, nor 
in this or that order of men. It was the mighty energy of the whole mass. It 
was the momentous heaving of the troubled ocean, roused indeed by the coming 
tempest, but j^i'opelled onward by the lashing of its own waters, and by the 
a^vful, irresistible im2)ulse of deep-seated passion and power. 

In this movement, those who were foremost were not always those of most 
influence ; nor were the exciting causes always the most obtrusive to the eye. 
All were pressed forward by the spirit inherent In the community ; by tbrce of 
public opinion and sense of duty, which never fell behind, but was often in 
advance of those who were called leaders. 

The event has shown that our fathers judged rightly in this movement ; that 
their conception was just concerning their means and their duties; that thev 
were ecpial to the crisis in which Providence had placed them ; that, daring to 
be free, their power was equal to their daring. They vindicated liberty for them- 
selves ; they transmitted It to us, their posterity. There is no truer glory, no 
higher fame known or to be acquired among men. 

How diffei-ent would have been our lot at this day, both as men and citizens, 
had the Revolution failed of success, or had the great principle of liberty on 
which it turned been yielded. Instead of a people free, enlightened, rejoicing in 
their strength, possessing a just consciousness of being the authors and arbiters 
of their own and their country's destinies, wc should have been a multitude with- 
out pride of independence, without sense of state or national sovereignty, looking 
across the ocean for our rulers ; watching the Atlantic sky, as the cloud of court 



430 APPENDIX. 

locusts, tempted by our greenness, came warping on the eastern breeze ; waiting 
on the strand to catch the first glimpse of our descending master, — some trans- 
athintic chieftain, some royal favorite, some court sycophant, — sent to govern a 
country, without knowing its interests, without sympathy in its prospects; resting 
in another hemisphere the hopes of his fame and fortune. Our judges coming 
from afar ; our merchants denied all commerce except with the parent state ; 
our clerg}' sent us, like our clothes, ready made, and cut in the newest, court 
fashion. None but conformists allowed to vote ; none but churchmen eligible. 
Our civil rights subject to ci'own officers ; our religious, to a foreign hierarchy, 
cold, selfish, vindictive, distant, solicitous about glebes and tithes, but reckless 
among us of the spread of the light of learning or the influence of the gospel. 

How different also would have been the fate and aspect of the present age, 
had the American Revolution never commenced, or had it failed ! Under Pro- 
vidence, this Revolution has been the chief, if not the sole cause of tliat impulse 
to the human mind, which, during the last half century, has changed the face of 
Europe, and elevated the hojjc of man. The light of truth and reason reflected 
across the Atlantic from the mighty mirror of American liberty, penetrated the 
cottages of peasants and the cabinets of kings. The multitude were propelled 
upon thrones. Kings have consequently been induced to soften the rigors of 
ancient serv-itude. In every part of Europe the chains of subjects are lightened. 
Sovereigns daily reahze, more and more, the necessity of admitting the people 
to a voice in their councils, and to a qualified weight in state affairs. Under the 
influence of this condition of things, knowledge has been increased and difi'used ; 
the rights of man vindicated ; a free intercourse of commerce, science, and arts 
introduced on both sides of the Atlantic, unparalleled in human history, and 
giving promise of an advancement in freedom, morals, and refinement, exceed- 
ing the hope or conception of former times. Under these auspices, the patriotic 
theories and visions of JVIilton, Harrington, Algernon Sidney, and Locke, are 
beginning to be realized ; the capacity of man to govern himself to be demon- 
strated ; the great truth promulgated and carried home to the bosoms of all sove- 
reigns, even the most arbitrar}-, that they who would govern man long must 
govern him justly, and treat him as a rational, accountable, and moral being ; 
that they nmst respect his essential rights, and even towards servitude itself, 
recognize the principles of a substantial freedom. 

Such was the genius and character, and such tlie ]iroud results of the Ameri- 
can Revolution ; such the glory of our fathers ; such the glowing points from 
■which that glory radiates. 

It is suitable, and it is our duty on this occasion to incpilre, what it is to main- 
tain that genius and character ? what it is to deserve, and what to disgrace those 
ancestors ? 

In listening to the preceding development, fellow-citizens, it is impossible that 
each of you should not have realized, individually, your interest in the character 
and conduct of our fathers. It is a law of nature. The virtue and glory of 
fathers is the most precious inheritance of their posterity. By this law, an indis- 
soluble, moral imion, connects times past and future with times present. "With- 
out that law, man would be a creature of the day, grovelling in selfishness, wal- 
lowing in the mire of sense, with eye and taste and thought all downward, with 
no backward regard, with no forward hope, with no upward aim. But this eter- 



APPENDIX. 431 

nal, moral connection, •whicli is established by Providence in his nature, gives 
liim, as it were, existence in the days of old, and existence in the times which 
are to come ; and instead of a being destined, as the term of his natural life 
seems to indicate, to exist only a few short years, bestows upon him, even in this 
■world, a glorious Immortality. 

By this law it is made the duty of man in every age, in gratitude for the inhe- 
ritance he receives, to transmit it faithfully to those who succeed ; not dimi- 
nished, not corrupted, not soiled, but if possible enlarged, strengthened, purified, 
increased both in splendor and usefulness. 

The occurring circumstances of every age make indeed the duties of each suc- 
ceedinor generation different. But in consulting concerning those duties. It will 
not be difficult for this or any future age to detei-mlne In what they consist, pro- 
vided, according to the example, and In the language of our fathers, we endea- 
vor " so to understand our liberty and duty as to beget unity among ourselves, 
and to act and speak as becomes prudent, honest, conscientious, and faithful 
men." 

It is true, that we in this age are not called as our fathers were, to take our 
lives in our hands, and bare our breasts to the tempest and shock of war. But 
such dangers and sacrifices are not essential to the existence of true glory. This, 
as I have endeavored to illustrate, consists not In the particular part we are 
called to act, but in the manner in which we perform the part to which we are 
called. The essence of true glory Is principle. Our fathers endured the hard- 
ships and despised the dangers of the field of battle, not for the sake of the spe- 
cies of glory there to be acquired, but because battle was the mode apjiointed by 
Providence for them to vindicate their truth to the relations of things In which It 
had placed them. They could, in no other mode, have fulfilled their duty to 
those relations. 

Now this glory is just as applicable to us as to them. The labors and sacrifices 
of our fathers have Indeed left us a noble inheritance. But our tenure of that 
inheritance Is not absolute, but conditional. If we would maintain It and trans- 
mit it unimpaired to our posterity, we must, like our fathers, be true to the rela- 
tion of things In which we stand ; and particularly to those In which we stand 
to that very inheritance. Now, truth to those relations, as it respects us, con- 
sists In our fulfilling the conditions on which the continuance of that Inheritance 
depends. These conditions are, — that we understand our liberties; that we 
value them as we ought ; that we are willing to make the sacrifices of time, labor, 
and attention necessary for the preserving them, and are vigilant in defending 
them, not against external foes, to which. In all probability, we shall never be 
called, but against a much more insidious foe, — the passion, corruption, and 
weakness of our own hearts. 

The great principle for which our fathers contended, and the maintaining of 
which constituted their glory was, in fact, the right of self-government, — the 
right of choosing their own rulers ; In other words, the right of possessing them- 
selves, and of transmitting to posterity the elective franchise In Its most pure and 
perfect state. Now, this great privilege it belongs to us to maintain by a right 
and wise use of It ; and to transmit It to posterity the purer by our example, the 
safer by our use, and the more precious from the obvious blessings resulting from 
this our fidelity. This is our duty. In this consists our glory. 



432 APPENDIX, 

Let every man, therefore, who inquires what it is to deserve, and what it is to 
disgrace our ancestors, consider his conduct in this respect. Let him ask him- 
self, whether he truly appreciates the nature and greatness of that privilege ; 
whether he is faithful to liberty, to morals, and religion, in the exercise of it; 
whether he is indifferent about it, or neglects it, or sports with it. And so let 
every man answer for himself; his own conscience being his judge. And let all 
remember that, in the ways of Providence to nations, as well as to individuals, 
there is retribution as well as favor. No jjeople ever did, or ever can, long enjoy 
any privilege, and, least of all, the elective franchise, who systematically under- 
value it, or abuse it, or are even indifferent about it. 

Again, truth to liberty, to virtue, to our ancestors, and to the relation of things 
in which we stand, has respect also to the manner in which we conduct towards 
those on whom the elective lot has fallen, and in whose favor it has been 
declared. 

It is the nature of man, under a free constitution, to divide into parties, 
according to that diversity of views, interest, opinions, jiassions, and even fancies, 
which are inseparable from his constitution. This condition of things is not to 
be deprecated or condemned. It is to be understood and acted upon. 

Now, the duty which each individual in a free republic owes to rulers is just 
the same, whether they do or do not belong to the particular sect or party he 
happens to prefei*. Truth to the relations of things in which we stand, requires 
that our rulers should be judged, not by any previous prejudice or theory, but 
by their conduct while in power ; by the measures they recommend and counte- 
nance. These measures arc to be received in a candid, genei'ous spirit, and with 
fair and manly construction. Those, therefore, Avill be false to the genius and 
character of our Revolution, who, regardless of the measures of rulers, shall 
wage war upon them, merely because they do not belong to their own particular 
sect or party, or who shall decry wise measures or misrepresent the motives of 
just ones, with the sole view of pulling down one individual or of building up 
another ; or who, making the liberty of debate or of the press a cloak for licen- 
tiousness, shall pervert both or either to purposes of malevolence or slander. 

Above all, those will be false to the genius and character of our Ilevolution 
who shall associate themselves with political leaders without reference to princi- 
ples ; who shall deny rulers the chance to show their real projects by the course 
of their administration, but shall wage war upon them from the very beginning, 
on the principle of political extermination. * 

There can be no surer sign that the liberties of a people are hastening to a 
dissolution than their countenancing those who form parties on men and not 
upon principles. AMienever the only question is, whether Cajsar or Pompey, 
Lepidus or Mark Anthony shall rule, and the people are corrupt or debased 
enough, from mere personal affection or preference to iiock to either standard, 
such a people are not far distant from a revolution Avhich will not leave them 
even the poor privilege of choosing their own masters. 

Thus you perceive, fellow-citizens, that the glory of our fathers which we this 
day celebrate, was not of a temporary or individual character ; that there is 
nothing exclusive in its nature ; that it may be shared and emulated by the truly 
noble of our race in every age ; that it essentially consists in possessing and exhi- 
biting in all our public relations a pure, just, elevated, and manly spirit. 



APPENDIX. 433 

And now, fellow-citizens, consider your privileges ; consider your duties. By 
the virtues of your fathers, you have been preserved from colonial bondage. 
Beware lest you become subjected to a more grievous bondage of base, igno- 
ble passions. As they subdued their enemies in the field, do you subdue those 
enemies which have their strongholds in the human heart, and which have 
laid low in the dust the proud hopes of all former republics, — " ambition, ava- 
rice, love of riches, and the corruptions of prosperity." l Be as just, as tempe- 
rate, as moderate in preserving your liberty, as your fathers were bold and dar- 
ing in repelling the chains of servitude. Be penetrated with " a love of liberty, of 
religion, of justice and virtue, and inflamed with a sacred zeal and affection for 
your country." ^ Thus it may be hoped, that through the combined and strenu- 
ous endeavors of true and faithful men in all times, there shall be gradually 
infused into the mass of mankind loftier thoughts, higher aims, more generous 
motives, whereby the human character being elevated and refined, shall become 
more worthy, and thus more capable of perfect freedom. And so this temple of 
liberty, tlie foundations of which were laid on the fourth of July, 1776, in blood 
and peril by our fathers, shall, by the labors, councils, and virtues of all the good 
and great of present and future times, be enlarged and extended in true propor- 
tions of moral architecture, till its pillars embrace the universe, and its dome 
vault upwards with a more than human skill, — with glorious archings of celes- 
tial wisdom, resplendent with purest faith, radiant with immortal truth, crowned 
with revealed hope, — to the joy and rest of man on the promise and in the pre- 
sence of the Eternal. 

1 Milton's Defensio pro Populo Amjlicano, contra Claudii Salmasii Defensionem 
Regiam. 



37 



434 



APPENDIX. 



(M. Page 57.) 

THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT, FROM 1822 TO 1830, INCLUSIVE. 

1822. 

MAYOR, 

JOHN PHILLIPS. 



ALDERMEN. 



Samuel Billings, 
Epliraim Eliot, 
Jacob Hall, 
Joseph Head, 



Joseph Jenkins, 
Joseph Lovering, 
Nathaniel Pope Russell, 
Bryant Parrott Tilclen. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 

WILLIAM PRESCOTT, President. 



Ward 1. 

William Barry, 
Thaddeus Page, 
Charles Wells, 
Simon Wilkinson. 

Ward 2. 

Martin Bates, 
Benjamin Lamson, 
Henry Orne, 
Joseph Stodder. 

Ward 3. 

Theodore Dexter, 
Joshua Emmons, 
Samuel Jones. 



Ward 4. 

Joseph Cooledge, 
Samuel Perkins, 
Robert Gould Shaw, 
Joel Thayer. 

Ward 5. 

George Washington Coffin, 
Thomas Kendall, 
Horatio Gates Ware, 
Isaac Winslow. 

Ward 6. 

Samuel Appleton, 
Thomas Motley, 
Jesse Shaw, 
William Sullivan. 



Ward 7. 

Jonathan Amory, 
Patrick Tracy Jackson, 
Augustus Peabody, 
Enoch Silsby. 

Ward 8. 

David Watts Bradlee, 
Peter Chardon Brooks, 
James Perkins, 
Benjamin Russell, 

Ward 9- 

Jonathan Davis, 
Hawkes Lincoln, 
William Prescott, 
John Welles. 

Ward 10. 

Andrew Drake, 
Daniel Lewis Gihbens, 
David Collson Moseley, 
Isaac Stevens. 

Ward 11. 

Geo. Watson Brimmer, 
Asa Bullard, 
Barzillai Holmes, 
Winslow Lewis. 

Ward 12. 

Cyrus Alger, 
John French, 
John Howe, 
Moses Williams. 



APPENDIX. 



435 



1823. 

MAYOR, 

JOSIAH QUmCY. 



ALDERMEN. 



Daniel Baxter, 

George Odiomc, 
David Weld Child, 
Joseph Hawlcy Dorr, 



Ashur Benjamin, 
Enoch Patterson, 
Caleb Eddy, 
Stephen Hooper. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 



JOHN WELLES, President. 



Ward 1. 

Thaddens Page, 
Simon Wilkinson. 
John Elliot, 
Joseph Wheeler. 

Ward 2. 

Martin Bates, 
Benjamin Lamson, 
Joseph Stodder, 
John Parker Boyd. 

Ward 3. 

Theodore Dexter, 
Samuel Jones, 
John Richardson Adan, 
John Damarisque Dyer. 

Ward 4. 

Joseph Cooledge, 
Samuel Perkins, 
Robert Gould Shaw, 
Henry' Farnam. 

Ward 5. 

Thomas Kendall, 
Isaac Winslow, 
Ellas Haskell, 
John Sullivan Perkins. 

Ward 6. 

Joseph Stacy Hastings, 
Joel Prouty, 
John Stevens, 
William Wright. 



Ward 7. 



Jonathan Amory, 
Enoch Silsby, 
Samuel Swett, 
Chai-les Pelham Curtis 

Ward 8. 

Benjamin RusseU, 
James Savage, 
Eliphalet Williams, 
Samuel King Williams. 

Ward 9, 

Jonathan Davis, 
Hawkes Lincoln, 
John Welles, 
Lewis Tappan. 

Ward 10. 

Aaron Baldwin, 
David Francis, 
Francis Johonnot Oliver, 
Thomas Beale Wales. 

Ward 11. 

Asa Bullard, 
Charles Howard, 
Josiah Stedman, 
Joseph WiUett. 

Ward 12. 

Samuel Bradlee, 
Noah Brooks, 
Francis Jackson, 
Charles Sprague. 



436 



APPENDIX. 



1824. 

MATOE, 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 



Daniel Baxter, 
Geor<,'e Odiomc, 
David Weld Child, 
Joseph Ilawley Dorr, 
Ashui- Benjamin, 



ALDERMEN, 



Enoeh Patterson, 

Caleb Eddy, 

Stephen Hooper, (died September, 

CjTus Alger, (November.) 



COMMON COUNCIL. 

FRANCIS JOHONNOT OLIVER, President. 



Ward 1. 

William Bany, 
John Elliot, 
Joseph Wheeler, 
Michael Tombs. 

Ward 2. 

William Little, Jr., 
Oliver Reed, 
Joseph Stone, 
Thaddeus Page. 

Ward 3. 

John Richardson Adan, 
John Damarisque Dyer, 
Edward Page, 
William Sprague. 

Ward 4. 

Joseph Cooled ge, 

Robert Gould Shaw, 

Jeremiah Fitch, 

Wm. Rounsville Pierce Washbum. 

Ward 5. 

Elias Haskell, 
Eliphalet Porter Hartshorn, 
George Washington Otis, 
Winslow Wright. 

Ward 6. 

Joseph Stacy Hastings, 
Joel Prouty, 
William Wright, 
Thomas Wiley. 



Ward 7. 

Charles Pelham Curtis, 
William Goddard, 
Elijah Morse, 
Isaac Parker. 

Ward 8. 

Benjamin Russell, 
Eliphalet Williams, 
Samuel King Williams, 
Benjamin Willis. 

Ward 9. 

Jonathan Davis, 
Hawkes Lincoln, 
John Ballard, 
John Chipman Gray. 

Ward 10. 

Thomas Beale Wales, 
James Savage, 
Phineas Upham, 
Francis Johonnot Oliver, 

Ward 11. 

Josiah Stedman, 
Samuel Erothingham, 
Giles Lodge, 
Charles Sprague. 

Ward 12. 

Samuel Bradlee, 
Francis Jackson, 
Isaac Tliom, 
Charles Bemis. 



APPENDIX. 



437 



1825. 

MATOK, 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 



ALDEKMEN. 



Daniel Carney, 
John Bellows, 
Josiah Marshall, 
John Damarisque Dyer, 



Thomas Welsh, Jr., 
George Blake, 
Heniy Jackson Oliver, 
Jolm Bryant, 



COMMON COUNCIL. 

FRANCIS JOHONNOT OLIVER, President. 



Ward 1. 

William Barry, 
John Elliot, 
Robert FenncUy, 
Lewis Lerow. 

Ward 2. 

Oliver Reed, 
Scammel Penniman, 
Benjamin Clark, 
John Fenno. 

Ward 3. 

John Richardson Adan, 
Thomas Wells, 
Abraham Williams Fuller, 
Amos Famsworth. 

Ward 4. 

Joseph Coolcdge, 

Wm. Rounsville Pierce Washburn, 

George Hallett, 

Theodore Dexter. 

Ward 5. 

John SuUivan Perkins, 
Ezra Dyer, 
Charles Tracy, 
William Simonds. 

Ward 6. 

Joseph Stacy Hastings, 
Thomas AViley, 
Isaac Waters, 
Samuel Thaxter. 

37* 



Ward 7. 

Charles Pelham Curtis, 
William Goddard, 
Elijah Morse, 
Isaac Parker. 

Ward 8. 

Eliphalet Williams, 
Benjamin Willis, 
Jeftrey Richardson, 
Josiah Bradlee. 

Ward 9. 

John Chipman Gray, 
Franklin Dexter, 
Jeremiah Smith Boies, 
Levi Meriam. 

Ward 10. 

Francis Johonnot Oliver, 
James Savage, 
Jonathan Simonds, 
John Parker Rice. 

Ward 11. 

Samuel Frothingham, 
Giles Lodge, 
George Morey, Jr., 
Joshua Vose. 

Ward 12. 

John Stevens, 
Adam Bent, 
Oliver Fisher, 
Ephraira Groves Ware. 



438 



APPENDIX. 



1826. 

MATOK, 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 



ALDEEMEN. 



Daniel Carney, 
John Bellows, 
Josiah Marshall, 
Thomas Welsh, Jr., 



Henry Jackson Oliver, 
John Foster Loring, 
Francis Jackson, 
Edw. Hutchinson Bobbins. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 



JOHN RICHAKDSON AD AN, President. 
Ward 1. Ward 7. 



William Barry, 
Lewis Lerow, 
Lemuel P. Grosvenor, 
Samuel Aspinwall. 

Ward 2. 

Scammel Pcnniman, 
Benjamin Clark, 
John Fenno, 
Nathaniel Faxon. 

Ward 3. 

John Richardson Adan, 
WUliam SpraEcue, 
Amos Farnsworth, 
Asa Adams. 

Ward 4. 

George Hallett, 
William Howe, 
John Warren James, 
Joseph Eveleth. 

Ward 5. 

Ezra Dyer, 
Charles Tracy, 
Jonatlian Thaxter, 
William Parker. 

Ward 6. 

Joseph Stacy Hastings. 
Thomas Wiley, 
Isaac Waters, 
Samuel Thaxter. 



Atigustus Peabody, 
Charles Pelham Curtis. 
Isaac Parker, 
Edward Brooks. 

Ward 8. 

Francis Bassett, 
Joseph Ilelger Thayer, 
Joseph Ilawley Dorr, 
John Baker. 

Ward 9. 

John Chipraan Gray, 
Jeremiah Smith Boies, 
Levi Mcriam, 
Charles Ton-ey. 

Ward 10. 

Aaron Baldwin, 
John Parker Rice, 
Solomon Piper, 
Charles Barnard. 

Ward 11. 

Giles Lodge, 
George Morey, Jr., 
Joshua Vose, 
Thomas Brewer. 

Ward 12. 

John Stevens, 
Adam Bent, 
Oliver Fisher, 
Henry Hatch. 



APPENDIX. 



439 



1827. 

MAYOR, 

JOSIAH QUINCY. 



ALDERMEN. 



Cyiiis Alger, 
John Bellows, 
Thomas Welsh, Jr., 
John Foster Loring-, 



Jeremiah Smith Boies, 
Robert Fennelly, 
Thomas Beale Wales, 
James Savage. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 

JOHN RICHARDSON ADAN, President. 
Ward 1. Ward 7. 



William Bany, 
Simon Wilkinson. 
John Elliot, 
Samuel Aspinwall. 

Ward 2. 

Benjamin Clark, 
Scammel Penniman, 
John Warren James, 
John Floyd Truman. 

Ward 3. 

John Rifhardson Adan, 
John Damarisque Dyer, 
Asa Adams, 
Thomas Gould. 

Ward 4. 

Wm. Roitnsville Pierce Washburn, 
George Hallett, 
William Howe, 
Joseph Eveleth. 

Ward 5. 

Jonathan Thaxter, 
William Parker, 
Lewis Glover Pray, 
George Lane. 

Ward 6. 

Isaac Waters, 
Samuel Thaxter, 
Jonathan Loring, 
Joseph Wairen Lewis. 



Samuel Doit, 
Samuel Dexter Ward, 
John Arno Bacon, 
Thomas Walley Phillips. 

Ward 8. 

David Watts Bradlee, 
Benjamin Russell, 
Eliphalet Williams, 
Joshua Sears. 

Ward 9. 

Jolin Cliipmau Gray, 
Levi Meriam, 
Gamaliel Bradford, 
John Prescott Bigelow. 

Ward 10. 

Jonathan Siraonds, 
George Brinley, 
William Parker, 
Charles Sprague. 

Ward 11. 

Giles Lodge, 
George Morey, Jr., 
Josliua Vose, 
Josiah Vose. 

Ward 12. 

Adam Bent, 
William Wright, 
William Little, Jr., 
George Gay. 



440 



APPENDIX. 



1828. 



MATOK, 



JOSIAH QUINCY. 



ALDERMEN. 



John Foster Loring, 
Robert Fennelly, 
James Savage, 
Thomas Keudall, 



James Hall, 

Phineas Upham, 

John Pic-kcring, 

Samuel Turell Armstrong. 



COMMON COUNCIL. 



JOHN PvICHARDSON ADAN, President. 



Ward 1. 

Samuel Aspinwall, 
Niiiian Clark Betton, 
Horace Fox, 
Eleazer Pratt. 

Ward 2. 

John "WaiTcn James, 

Frederick Goidd, 

Henry Fowle, Jr., 

George Washington Johnson. 

Ward 3. 

John Richardson Adan, 
John D. Dyer, (res. April.) 
Thomas Gould, 
Levi Roberts Lincoln, 
James L. P. Orrok, (from May.) 

Ward 4. 

Joseph Eveleth. 
Quincy Tufts, 
Andrew Cunningham, Jr., 
James Means. 

Ward 5. 

George Washington Otis, 
William Parker, 
Lewis Glover Pray, 
George Lane. 

Ward 6. 

Isaac Waters, 
Francis Johonnot Oliver, 
Ebenezer Appleton, 
David Moody. 



Ward 7. 
John Amo Bacon, 
John Belknap, 

George W. Adams, (from May.) 
Thomas Wren Ward, (res. July.) 
Waldo Flint, (res. February.) 
Beuj. T. Pickman, (from August.) 

Ward 8. 
Bcnjamm Russell, 
Eliphalet Williams, 
Samuel King Williams, 
Thomas Lamb. 

Ward 9. 
John Chipman Gray, 
John Prescott Bigelow, 
Norman Seaver, 
Daniel Lewis Gibbens. 

Ward 10. 
Jonathan Simonds, 
William Parker, 

Robert Treat Paine, (from May.) 
John Lowell, Jr., 
Geo. Bethune, (res. April.) 

Ward 11. 

Otis Everett, 
Otis Turner, 
Perez Gill, 
Payson Perrin. 

Ward 12. 
Aljjheus Gary, 
Walter Cornell, 
Joseph Neale Howe, 
Benjamin Stevens. 



APPENDIX. 



441 



1829. 

MAYOR, 

HAEEISON GRAY OTIS. 



ALDERMEN. 



Henry Jackson Oliver, 
John Foster Loring, 
Thora.is Kendall. 
James Hall, 



Samuel Turell Annstrong, 
Benjamin Russell, 
Winslow Lewis, 
Charles Wells, 



COMMON COUNCIL. 



ELIRHALET WILLIAMS, President. 



Ward 1. 

Ninian Clark Betton, 
Eleazer Pratt, 
John Wells, 
Christopher Gore. 

Ward 2. 
John Warren James, 
Heniy Sewall Kent, 
Samuel Ellis, 

Thomas Reed, (died February. 
Daniel Ballard, (from March.) 

Ward 3. 
Thomas Gould, 
Levi Roberts Lincoln, 
Joseph Bradley, 
Amos Bradley Parker. 

Ward 4. 
Quincy Tufts, _ 
Andrew Cunningham, 
John Rayner, 
Samuel Davenport Torrcy. 

Ward 5. 
Jonathan Thaxter, 
William Parker, 
George Lane, 
Joseph Eveleth. 

Ward 6. 
Isaac Waters, 
Samuel Austin, Jr., 
Jai'cd Lincoln, 
Samuel Goodhue. 



Ward 7. 

Geo. W. Adams, (died May.) 
Benjamin Toppan Pickman, 
Thomas Wetmoi-e, 
Walter Frost, 
Isaac Danforth, (from May.) 

Ward 8. 
John Prescott Bigelow, 
Jacob Amee, 
Levi Brigham, 
Daniel Lewis Gibbens. 

Ward 9. 
Eliphalet Williams, 
Samuel Iving Williams, 
Thomas Minns, 
James Brackett Richardson. 

Ward 10. 
Jonathan Simonds, 
John Lowell, Jr., 
Samuel Leonard Abbott, 
Charles Casey Starbuck. 

Ward 11. 
Otis Everett, 
Otis Turner, 
Perez Gill, 
Payson Perrin. 

Ward 12. 
Oliver Fisher, 
Walter Cornell, 
Aaron Willard. Jr.. 
Isaac Parker Towuscud. 



442 



APPENDIX. 



1830. 

MAYOR, 

HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 



ALDERMEN, 



Heniy Jackson Oliver, 
John Foster Lorinjr. 
Samuel TurcU Anustronj 
Benjamiu RusseU, 



Winslow Lewis, 
Charles Wells, 
John Burbcek McCleary, 
Moses Williams. 



COMMON COUNCII-. 

BENJAMIN TOrPAN PICOLiN, President. 



Ward 1. 

Xinian Clark Betton, 
Eleazer Pratt, 
Christopher Gore, 
Simon Wiggin Robinson. 

Ward 2. 

John WaiTen James, 
Samuel Ellis, 
Daniel Ballard, 
John B. Wells. 

Ward 3. 
Thomas Gould, 
Levi Roberts Lincoln, 
Larra Crane, 
Michael Lovell. 

Ward 4. 
Quincy Tufts, 
John Ra^Tier, 
Samuel Davenport Torrey, 
Washington Parker Gregg. 

Ward 
Winslow Wright, 
Joseph Evcleth, 
Levi BoTOton Haskell, 
Charles Leighton. 

Ward 6. 
Isaac Waters, 
Samuel Austin, Jr., 
Jared Lincoln, 
Joshua Seaver, 
Benj. Parker, (seat vacated in Feb.) 



Ward 7. 

Benjamin Toppan Pickman, 
Thomas Wetmore, 
Isaac Danforth, 
Elias Hasket Derby. 

Ward 8. 

Thomas Minns, 
James Brackett Richardson, 
Joscpli Reynolds Newell, 
Leach Hams. 

Ward 9. 

John Prescott Bigelow, 

Jacob Amee, 

Levi Brigham, 

Edw. Goldsborough Prescott. 

Ward 10. 

John Parker Rice, 
John Lowell, Jr., 
Samuel Leonard Abbott, 
Levi Bliss. 

Ward n. 

Otis Everett, 
Perez Gill, 
Jabez Ellis, 
Joseph Hay. 

Ward 12. 

Henry Hatch, 
Aaron Willard, Jr.. 
Thomas IMelville Vinson, 
James Wright. 



INDEX. 



Adams, John, his death, 207. Eulogy, 208. 

Aldermen, elected. 42, 58, 121, 167, 197, 
210, 229, 280, 298. 

, proposal to increase the num- 
ber of, 110, 178. 

Almshouse, 8, 18, 19, 34, 50, 88. Sale of, 
138, 146. 

Anniversaiy, Fiftieth, of the Declaration 
of Independence, 200. 

Assessors, 28, 211, 231, 236, 276, 290. 

Auditor, City, 165, 256, 394. 

Boston, City of, municipal govemment 

established, 30, 40. 

, , first organization of, 42. 

, , finances of, 44, 46, 48, 

111, 163, 202, 229, 265, 394, 398, 401. 

, , population of, 109, 178. 

•, average of deaths in, 407. 



Boston, South, annexation of, 246 

, , bridge to. 247. 

Boston, Town of, ijrocectlings of the, 2, 13, 
15, 17, 22, 33, 40. 

-, finances of, 17, 29, 40, 46, 



274, 282. 



population of, 17, 40. 



Bridewell, 9, 37, 103. 
Bulfinch, Charles, 26, 34. 
Burial grounds, 73, 100. 

Centennial celebration, 305, 308, 309, 318. 

Churches, independence of, 340. 

City Charter, 40, 41, 42, 58, 62, 179, 253, 

277, 290, 376. 
Debt, 46, 112, 121, 166, 202, 210, 229, 

243, 274, 300, 383, 406. 

Expenditures, 163, 256, 265, 274. 

Government, first organization of, 42. 

^ time Qf^ changed, 179. 

Ofiicers, election of, 41, 44, 253. 

Common Council, President of, elected, 

44, 58, 280, 305. 
Common, The questions concerning, 114, 

116. 
Constables, 4, 109, 272, 307. 
Cotton, John, 343. 
Court Houses, 40, 211, 302. 402. 
Court of Sessions, abolished, 33. 



Drains, laws respecting, 119, 120, 121, 127, 
382. 

Engineer, Chief, 162, 203, 253, 291. 
Engine Companies, proceedings respect- 
ing, 154, 205, 264. 
Engine Houses, 191, 192, 253, 264, 306. 

Faneuil Hall, 11, 13, 15. 28, 42, 75, 80. 

Question couccrnino-, 147. 
Faneuil, Peter, 11, 201. 
Fire Department, proceedings relative to, 

155, 159, 181, 193, 203, 230. 253, 263, 

292, 408. 
Fire Engines, 44, 154, 161, 163, 192, 205, 

253, 264. 
Fire, petitions of sufferers by, 200, 293. 
Fire, protection against, under the town 

government, 5, 6, 153. 
Firewards, 28, 44, 60, 153, 155, 205, 390. 
Finances. See Boston. 
FhUs,east of the Market, 243, 245, 289. 
, west of the Common, 115. 

General Court, proceedings of, 1, 2. See 
Legislature of Massachusetts. 

Hall, City, 211, 308, 309. 
Harbor, protection of, 265, 292, 294, 303. 
Health, Board of, 29, 60, 64, 66, 71, 147, 
266. 

, department of, 54, 72, 148, 229,407. 



High School for boys, 216. 

for girls, proceedings con- 
cerning, 216, 269. 

Highways, Surveyors of, 44, 60, 63, 111, 
194. 

Hospitals, 350, 407. 

House of Con-ection, 9, 37, 52. 102, 256, 
303. 

House of Industry, 35, 37, 46, 62, 70, 
72, 80, 88, 105, 108, 121, 138, 256. 
303. 

House of Juvenile OiFenders, 53, 106. 256. 
269, 291, 303. 

Islands in the harbor, protection of 116, 
256, 265. 



444 



APPENDIX. 



Inclependence, Declaration of, Fiftieth An- 
niversary, 200. 

Institutions, cliaritable, 350. 

, religious, 350, 351. 

Intemperance, efibrts to supi^ress. 109, 242, 
272, 307. 

Jail, 40, 103, 105, 283, 303. 
Jefferson, Thomas, his death, 207. Eu- 
logy, 208. 
Johnson, Isaac, 328. 

Lafayette, General, 19, 149, 192. 

Lands, city, 54, 113, 274, 301. 

Legislature of Massachusetts, 4, 13,29, 31, 
33, 35, 40, 85, 180, 292, 343. 

Licenses, tenns of, 112, 272. Theatrical, 
112. 

Liquors, spirituous, sale of, on the Com- 
mon, prevented, 242. 

Malls, improved, 121, 382. 
Mannfaetiu-es, Domestic, Exhibition of, 

250, 305. 
Market, pul)lic, 10. 
, uiKk'r Faneuil ITall, 11, 12, 40, 54, 

74, 85. 121, 124. Discontinued, 201. 
Market-House, erected, 1826. Proceed 

ings relative to, 74, 124, 137, 201, 24.3,1 

245, 256, 289, 383, 412. Comer Stone 

laid, 415. 
Marslial, City, 73, 101, 272. 
Mavor. official responsibility of, 8, 122, 

277, 376. 384, 389. 

, power to su]ipress riots, 199, 396. 

Municipal Coiu-t, 103. 

Kuisaiices, removal of, 64, 70, 266, 408. 

Otis, Harrison Gray, 41. Mayor, 258. 
Inaugural Addresses, 280, 298. Address 
on the seventeentli September, 1830, 309. 

Overseers of the Poor, 19,28,31, 40. Pro- 
ceedings of, relative to tbe House of 
Industry, 47, 88, 138, 140, 167. How 
elected,' 390. L-responsibility of, 418. 

Pauperism, proceedings relative to, 34, 88, 
139, 142. 

Phillips, John, Mayor, 41, 58, 89. Inau- 
gural Address, 373. 

Police, 25, 73, 104, 109, 229, 271. 

Police Court established, 33. 

Puritans, the character and influence of, 
325, 341. 

Quarantine Eegulations, 147. 

Quincy, Josiah, 35, 38, 41. Mayor, 58. 



Address, July 4, 1826, 206, 421. Final 
Address as Mayor, 260. Centennial 
Address, 305, 308. Inaugural Address- 
es, 375, 379, 388, 392, 398, 406. 

Railroads, 284, 295, 305. 
Resen'oirs, constructed, 192, 264. 
Riots, suppression of, 199. 
Ropewalk lands, 54, 113, 256, 382, 400. 

School Committee, 21, 28, 60, 212, 225, 
270, 390. 

School Houses, 212, 269. 

Schools, public, 4, 9, 10, 20, 212, 230, 249, 
269, 341, 349, 409. 

Seal, Citv, 44. 

Selectmen, 2, 3. 6, 16, 28, 40, 42. 

Sewers. See Drains. 

Slnn\niuit, 2, 328. 

Spraguc, Charles, 305, 308. Centennial 
Ode by, 358. 

Solicitor, Citv. 241. 

State House,' Old, 307 

Streets, arrangements for cleansing, 65, 
380. lm]irovements in, 133, 194. Pro- 
spective plan of, 196, 200, 204, 230, 256, 
266, 273. 304. 

Surveyor of Boards and Lumber, 252. 

Taxes, 197, 231, 276, 393, 410. 

Tlieatrical disturbances, suppression of, 
199. 

Toml)S under churches, 54, 96. 

Town House, 311. 

Town Goveniment established, 1, 2. Pro- 
posal to change it, 16, 23, 27. Defects 
of, 58. 60. 

Town lands, 40. 

Town meetings, 6, 7, 23, 28, 40 

Town Records, 3, 5, 10, 13, 17. 

Triiuountain, 2, 328. 

Yane, Henry, 4, 343. 

Vice and Crime, measm'cs to suppress, 39, 

102, 109, 271, 380. 
Voting Lists, questions concerning, 211, 

234, 290. 



Wards, meetings in, 110, 178. 

Watch, town, instructions to, 7. 

Watchmen, 109, 272. 

Water, measures for supplying the city 

with. 176. 303,394. 
Winthrop, John, 1, 3, 4, 327, 328, 333, 

343, 345. 
Williams, Eliphalet, 42. 
AVharf, City, 243, 300. 
Wharves, petition to extend, 292. 



